Spatially Resolved Large Magnetization in Ultrathin BiFeO3

Here, a quantitative magnetic depth profile across the planar interfaces in BiFeO₃/La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (BFO/LSMO) superlattices using polarized neutron reflectometry is obtained. An enhanced magnetization of 1.83 ± 0.16 μ_B/Fe in BFO layers is observed when they are interleaved between two manganite layers. The enhanced magnetic order in BFO persists up to 200 K. The depth dependence of magnetic moments in BFO/LSMO superlattices as a function of the BFO layer thickness is also explored. The results show the enhanced net magnetic moment in BFO from the LSMO/BFO interface extends 3–4 unit cells into BFO. The interior part of a thicker BFO layer has a much smaller magnetization, suggesting it still keeps the small canted AFM state. The results exclude charge transfer, intermixing, epitaxial strain, and octahedral rotations/tilts as dominating mechanisms for the large net magnetization in BFO. An explanation—one suggested by others previously and consistent with the observations—attributes the temperature dependence of the net magnetization of BFO to strong orbital hybridization between Fe and Mn across the interfaces. Such orbital reconstruction would establish an upper temperature limit for magnetic ordering of BFO.     

Ferroelectric BiFeO3 as an Oxide Dye in Highly Tunable Mesoporous All‐Oxide Photovoltaic Heterojunctions

As potential photovoltaic materials, transition‐metal oxides such as BiFeO₃ (BFO) are capable of absorbing a substantial portion of solar light and incorporating ferroic orders into solar cells with enhanced performance. But the photovoltaic application of BFO has been hindered by low energy‐conversion efficiency due to poor carrier transport and collection. In this work, a new approach of utilizing BFO as a light‐absorbing sensitizer is developed to interface with charge‐transporting TiO₂ nanoparticles. This mesoporous all‐oxide architecture, similar to that of dye‐sensitized solar cells, can effectively facilitate the extraction of photocarriers. Under the standard AM1.5 (100 mW cm^?2) irradiation, the optimized cell shows an open‐circuit voltage of 0.67 V, which can be enhanced to 1.0 V by tailoring the bias history. A fill factor of 55% is achieved, which is much higher than those in previous reports on BFO‐based photovoltaic devices. The results provide here a new viable approach toward developing highly tunable and stable photovoltaic devices based on ferroelectric transition‐metal oxides.     

Ti掺杂BiFeO3陶瓷的结构和铁电性能研究

用固相反应法制备了BiFe_1-xTi_xO₃(BFTxO)陶瓷样品,研究了不同Ti掺杂量对BFO陶瓷结构、形貌、铁电性能和铁电-顺电相变温度(T_c)的影响. XRD结果表明,当Ti含量x从0增大到0.2,相的结构由菱方钙钛矿逐渐变为斜方结构. Raman光谱的测试和模拟也证实了掺Ti后晶体结构有向三斜晶系转变的趋势. I-V曲线说明Ti掺杂显著降低了BFO陶瓷的漏电流,当Ti掺杂量为0.05时,漏电流最小,在100V电压下,漏电流密度为7.3×10^－6A/cm². Ti掺杂还增强了BFO陶瓷的铁电性,Ti掺杂量为0.05时的剩余极化强度甚至是纯BFO的两倍. 另外,DTA测试显示,Ti掺杂能影响BFO的铁电顺电相变温度. 随着Ti掺杂量的增加,铁电顺电相变温度逐渐降低.     

Ferroelectric Localized Field–Enhanced ZnO Nanosheet Ultraviolet Photodetector with High Sensitivity and Low Dark Current

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanosheets have demonstrated outstanding electrical and optical properties, which are well suited for ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors. However, they have a high density of intrinsically unfilled traps, and it is difficult to achieve p‐type doping, leading to the poor performance for low light level switching ratio and a high dark current that limit practical applications in UV photodetection. Here, UV photodetectors based on ZnO nanosheets are demonstrated, whose performance is significantly improved by using a ferroelectric localized field. Specifically, the photodetectors have achieved a responsivity of up to 3.8 × 10⁵ A W^?1, a detectivity of 4.4 × 10¹⁵ Jones, and a photocurrent gain up to 1.24 × 10⁶. These device figures of merit are far beyond those of traditional ZnO ultraviolet photodetectors. In addition, the devices' initial dark current can be easily restored after continuous photocurrent measurement by using a positive gate voltage pulse. This study establishes a new approach to produce high‐sensitivity and low‐dark‐current ultraviolet photodetectors and presents a crucial step for further practical applications.     

铁电材料的研究进展

铁电材料的优秀电学性能孕育了它广阔的应用前景,其电子元件有着集成度高、能耗小、响应速度快等众多优点。而且目前研究者将铁电材料同其它技术相结合,使新诞生的集成铁电材料性能更为优秀。介绍了铁电材料的发展历史和当前的研究概况。详细描述了几种铁电材料的性能特点与研究进展,包括压电材料及在微机电系统中的应用,储能用铁电介质材料,有机铁电薄膜材料,具备2种以上初级铁性体特征的多铁材料,铁电阻变材料等。最后,总结了铁电材料研究中尚未解决的技术问题,并展望了铁电材料的发展趋势。     

铁电薄膜及铁电存储器的研究进展

铁电薄膜是具有铁电性且厚度尺寸为数纳米到数微米的薄膜材料,因其在非挥发性铁电随机存储器方面的潜在应用而受到广泛关注.综述了新型无铅、无疲劳Bi4Ti3O12(BIT)基铁电薄膜材料的制备和改性及性能表征方法,阐述了铁电薄膜的3种失效机制及铁电薄膜存储器的研究现状,最后提出了铁电薄膜及存储器今后可能的研究方向.     

并关于O—3型铁电复合材料的热极化机构

制备了以PVDF为母体的TGS、BaTiO₃、LiNbO₃及PZT的O—3型复合材料．研究了这些材料的长时间极化弛豫,发现存在三种带有不同弛豫时间的驰豫机构,这些机构分别由晶粒、母体及晶粒边界产生,晶粒边界产生的极化较稳定．     

并关于O—3型铁电复合材料的热极化机构

制备了以PVDF为母体的TGS、BaTiO3、LiNbO3及PZT的O—3型复合材料．研究了这些材料的长时间极化弛豫，发现存在三种带有不同弛豫时间的驰豫机构，这些机构分别由晶粒、母体及晶粒边界产生，晶粒边界产生的极化较稳定．     

Intrinsic Conductance of Domain Walls in BiFeO3

Ferroelectric domain walls exhibit a number of new functionalities that are not present in their host material. One of these functional characteristics is electrical conductivity that may lead to future device applications. Although progress has been made, the intrinsic conductivity of BiFeO₃ domain walls is still elusive. Here, the intrinsic conductivity of 71° and 109° domain walls is reported by probing the local conductance over a cross section of the BiFeO₃/TbScO₃ (001) heterostructure. Through a combination of conductive atomic force microscopy, high‐resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy, and phase‐field simulations, it is found that the 71° domain wall has an inherently charged nature, while the 109° domain wall is close to neutral. Hence, the intrinsic conductivity of the 71° domain walls is an order of magnitude larger than that of the 109° domain walls associated with bound‐charge‐induced bandgap lowering. Furthermore, the interaction of adjacent 71° domain walls and domain wall curvature leads to a variation of the charge distribution inside the walls, and causes a discontinuity of potential in the [110]_p direction, which results in an alternative conductivity of the neighboring 71° domain walls, and a low conductivity of the 71° domain walls when measurement is taken from the film top surface.     

Stimulus Responsive 3D Assembly for Spatially Resolved Bifunctional Sensors

3D electronic/optoelectronic devices have shown great potentials for various applications due to their unique properties inherited not only from functional materials, but also from 3D architectures. Although a variety of fabrication methods including mechanically guided assembly have been reported, the resulting 3D devices show no stimuli‐responsive functions or are not free standing, thereby limiting their applications. Herein, the stimulus responsive assembly of complex 3D structures driven by temperature‐responsive hydrogels is demonstrated for applications in 3D multifunctional sensors. The assembly driving force, compressive buckling, arises from the volume shrinkage of the responsive hydrogel substrates when they are heated above the lower critical solution temperature. Driven by the compressive buckling force, the 2D‐formed membrane materials, which are pre‐defined and selectively bonded to the substrates, are then assembled to 3D structures. They include “tent,” “tower,” “two‐floor pavilion,” “dome,” “basket,” and “nested‐cages” with delicate geometries. Moreover, the demonstrated 3D bifunctional sensors based on laser induced graphene show capability of spatially resolved tactile sensing and temperature sensing. These multifunctional 3D sensors would open new applications in soft robotics, bioelectronics, micro‐electromechanical systems, and others.     

Ferroelectric Domain Wall Motion in Freestanding Single-Crystal Complex Oxide Thin Film

Ferroelectric domain walls in single-crystal complex oxide thin films are found to be orders of magnitude slower when the interfacial bonds with the heteroepitaxial substrate are broken to create a freestanding film. This drastic change in domain wall kinetics does not originate from the alteration of epitaxial strain; rather, it is correlated with the structural ripples at mesoscopic length scale and associated flexoelectric effects induced in the freestanding films. In contrast, the effects of the bond-breaking on the local static ferroelectric properties of both top and bottom layers of the freestanding films, such as domain wall width and spontaneous polarization, are modest and governed by the change in epitaxy-induced compressive strain.     

Light‐Induced Reversible Control of Ferroelectric Polarization in BiFeO3

Manipulation of ferroic order parameters, namely (anti‐)ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, and ferroelastic, by light at room temperature is a fascinating topic in modern solid‐state physics due to potential cross‐fertilization in research fields that are largely decoupled. Here, full optical control, that is, reversible switching, of the ferroelectric/ferroelastic domains in BiFeO₃ thin films at room temperature by the mediation of the tip‐enhanced photovoltaic effect is demonstrated. The enhanced short‐circuit photocurrent density at the tip contact area generates a local electric field well exceeding the coercive field, enabling ferroelectric polarization switching. Interestingly, by tailoring the photocurrent direction, via either tuning the illumination geometry or simply rotating the light polarization, full control of the ferroelectric polarization is achieved. The finding offers a new insight into the interactions between light and ferroic orders, enabling fully optical control of all the ferroic orders at room temperature and providing guidance to design novel optoferroic devices for data storage and sensing.     

Ultrathin In2O3 Nanosheets toward High Responsivity and Rejection Ratio Visible-Blind UV Photodetection

Photoelectrochemical-type visible-blind ultraviolet photodetectors (PEC VBUV PDs) have gained ever-growing attention due to their simple fabrication processes, uncomplicated packaging technology, and high sensitivity. However, it is still challenging to achieve high-performance PEC VBUV PDs based on a single material with good spectral selectivity. Here, it is demonstrated that individual ultrathin indium oxide (In₂O₃) nanosheets (NSs) are suitable for designing high-performance PEC VBUV PDs with high responsivity and UV/visible rejection ratio for the first time. In₂O₃ NSs PEC PDs show excellent UV photodetection capability with an ultrahigh photoresponsivity of 172.36 mA W⁻¹ and a high specific detectivity of 4.43 × 10¹¹ Jones under 254 nm irradiation, which originates from the smaller charge transfer resistance (R_ct) at the In₂O₃ NSs/electrolyte interface. The light absorption of In₂O₃ NSs takes a blueshift due to the quantum confinement effect, granting good spectral selectivity for visible-blind detection. The UV/visible rejection ratio of In₂O₃ NSs PEC PDs is 1567, which is 30 times higher than that of In₂O₃ nanoparticles (NPs) and exceeds all recently reported PEC VBUV PDs. Moreover, In₂O₃ NSs PEC PDs show good stability and good underwater imaging capability. The results verify that ultrathin In₂O₃ NSs have potential in underwater optoelectronic devices.