Induced ferroelectric phases in SrTiO3 by a nanocomposite approach

Erik Enriquez; Qian Li; Pamela Bowlan; Ping Lu; Bruce Zhang; Leigang Li; Haiyan Wang; Antoinette J. Taylor; Dmitry Yarotski; Rohit P. Prasankumar; Sergei V. Kalinin; Quanxi Jia; Aiping Chen

doi:10.1039/D0NR03460F

Induced ferroelectric phases in SrTiO₃ by a nanocomposite approach†

Erik Enriquez,

‡^ab Qian Li,‡^c Pamela Bowlan,^a Ping Lu,^d Bruce Zhang,^e Leigang Li,^e Haiyan Wang,

^e Antoinette J. Taylor,^a Dmitry Yarotski,^a Rohit P. Prasankumar,^a Sergei V. Kalinin,^f Quanxi Jia^g and Aiping Chen

*^ab

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
E-mail: apchen@lanl.gov

^b Institute for Materials Science, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA

^c State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

^d Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185, USA

^e School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA

^f Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

^g Department of Materials Design and Innovation, University at Buffalo - The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA

Abstract

Inducing new phases in thick films via vertical lattice strain is one of the critical advantages of vertically aligned nanocomposites (VANs). In SrTiO₃ (STO), the ground state is ferroelastic, and the ferroelectricity in STO is suppressed by the orthorhombic transition. Here, we explore whether vertical lattice strain in three-dimensional VANs can be used to induce new ferroelectric phases in SrTiO₃:MgO (STO:MgO) VAN thin films. The STO:MgO system incorporates ordered, vertically aligned MgO nanopillars into a STO film matrix. Strong lattice coupling between STO and MgO imposes a large lattice strain in the STO film. We have investigated ferroelectricity in the STO phase, existing up to room temperature, using piezoresponse force microscopy, phase field simulation and second harmonic generation. We also serendipitously discovered the formation of metastable TiO nanocores in MgO nanopillars embedded in the STO film matrix. Our results emphasize the design of new phases via vertical epitaxial strain in VAN thin films.

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Induced ferroelectric phases in SrTiO₃ by a nanocomposite approach†

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