Defect and Strain Engineering Coenhanced Nanoscale Ferroelectricity in SrTiO<sub>3</sub> Thin Films
Tensile biaxial strain has been demonstrated to induce in-plane ferroelectricity in SrTiO<sub>3</sub> thin films at room temperature. However, out-of-plane ferroelectricity is more favorable for electronic device applications. Here, we report the achievement of room-temperature out-of-plane ferroelectric SrTiO<sub>3</sub> thin films with giant tetragonality (<i>c</i>/<i>a</i> ∼ 1.061) and an ultrahigh ferroelectric stablity temperature (>1000 K) through epitaxial strain and defect engineering. Optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) proves that the enhancement of tetragonality enables improved ferroelectricity. Moreover, a combination of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) reveals the origin of enhanced tetragonality and strong ferroelectricity in defect- and strain-codriven supertetragonal SrTiO<sub>3</sub> thin films. Our findings present an approach to material design that can be extended to other material systems for the enhancement of ferroelectricity and the observation of emergent phenomena.
Authors
- Xiaozhe Yin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5502-3491)
- Ye Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5217-493X)
- Jun‐Ming Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8988-8429)
- Xubing Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2552-9571)
- Deyang Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8370-6409)
- Zedong Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4417-1368)
- Minghui Qin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8306-125X)
- Zhenlin Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7196-6537)
- Xingsen Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2725-0785)
- Caiwen Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3974-2522)
- Guofu Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1101-1947)
- Guofeng Liang
- Yu Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2110-4522)
- Xiangbin Cai
- Yibo Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1296-5718)
- Ning Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4902-5589)
- Chao Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7984-5337)
- Zhen Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3604-5775)
- Lang Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2460-8232)
- Jinhui Yu
- Han Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2085-6558)
- Jingtian Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8955-4506)
- Zhibang Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7765-7815)
- Jiangxiao Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4338-6106)
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- Nanyang Technological University (SG)
- South China Normal University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HK)
- Southern University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Institute of High Energy Physics (CN)
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures (CN)
- National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (CN)
- Huazhong University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Nano
- Published
- 2025-03-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.5c03518
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.59
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- South China Normal University
- Guangzhou Science and Technology Program key projects
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province