2020/04/30 by Kai Chang, Felix Küster, Brandon J. Miller +9 · 250 citations
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #2D Materials and Applications #Chemistry #Computer science #Condensed matter physics #Dielectric #Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides #Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials #Ferroelectricity #Heterojunction #Materials science #Monolayer #Multiferroics #Nanotechnology #Optoelectronics #Physics #Piezoresponse force microscopy #Planar #Polarization (electrochemistry) #Scanning tunneling microscope #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #van der Waals force
paper · pdf · open access · doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c02357
published in Nano Letters 20(9), 6590-6597 (American Chemical Society)
openalex publication_date 2020/08/18 · arxiv created 2020/08/25 · arxiv updated 2020/08/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals ferroelectrics provide an unprecedented architectural freedom for the creation of artificial multiferroics and nonvolatile electronic devices based on vertical and coplanar heterojunctions of 2D ferroic materials. Nevertheless, controlled microscopic manipulation of ferroelectric domains is still rare in monolayer-thick 2D ferroelectrics with in-plane polarization. Here we report the discovery of robust ferroelectricity with a critical temperature close to 400 K in SnSe monolayer plates grown on graphene and the demonstration of controlled room-temperature ferroelectric domain manipulation by applying appropriate bias voltage pulses to the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). This study shows that STM is a powerful tool for detecting and manipulating the microscopic domain structures in 2D ferroelectric monolayers, which are difficult for conventional approaches such as piezoresponse force microscopy, thus facilitating the hunt for other 2D ferroelectric monolayers with in-plane polarization with important technological applications.