Ferroelectricity in Nonstoichiometric SrTiO <sub>3</sub> at the 2D Limit
. Chemical analysis shows that these films are strontium-deficient (Sr/Ti = 0.93), with electron energy-loss spectroscopy indicating that the reduced Ti valence originates from oxygen vacancies. We conclude that the interplay of Sr deficiency and oxygen vacancies drives the emergent ferroelectric phase transition facilitated by the strain that can enhance the polarization. This work establishes nonstoichiometric ultrathin STO as a platform for strong low-dimensional ferroelectricity, opening pathways for nanoscale electronic devices and engineered quantum materials.
Authors
- P Chen
- Z G Wang
- Chengkai Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1724-8278)
- Jiandi Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5849-6174)
- Haoming Ling
- Long Chen
- Kai Hu
- Xuedong Bai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1403-491X)
- Xiaomin Li
- Yan Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8276-7845)
Institutions
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- FZU ‒ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ)
- National Laboratory for Superconductivity (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nano Letters
- Published
- 2026-05-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c01430
- Primary Topic
- Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China