Unconventional (anti)ferroelectricity in van der Waals group-IV monochalcogenides
Abstract Fundamentally, ferroelectrics must belong to a noncentrosymmetric space group, limiting the exploration of more new ferroelectric materials. We circumvent this limitation by triggering structure distortion and inducing ferroelectricity in centrosymmetric van der Waals group-IV monochalcogen...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57138-5 |
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| Summary: | Abstract Fundamentally, ferroelectrics must belong to a noncentrosymmetric space group, limiting the exploration of more new ferroelectric materials. We circumvent this limitation by triggering structure distortion and inducing ferroelectricity in centrosymmetric van der Waals group-IV monochalcogenide GeSe semiconductor that features unexpected intrinsic out-of-plane antiferroelectricity. Double-type and single-type hysteresis loops from electric measurements, bonding distortion observed in in-situ atomic imaging, and perpendicular polarization uncovered by first-principles calculations, confirm the intrinsic out-of-plane antiferroelectricity and the antiferroelectric–ferroelectric transition induced by the vertical external electric-field. The hidden out-of-plane antiferroelectricity and field induced ferroelectric polarization in spatial-inversion symmetric GeSe makes it a new member of van der Waals layered semiconductors with both in-plane and out-of-plane ferroelectricity, and possibly, can be extended to all group-IV monochalcogenides and other centrosymmetric van der Waals layered materials. |
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| ISSN: | 2041-1723 |