Interfacial ferroelectricity by van der Waals sliding
Authors/Creators
Description
Despite their partial ionic nature, many-layered diatomic crystals avoid internal electric polarization
by forming a centrosymmetric lattice at their optimal van der Waals stacking. Here, we report a
stable ferroelectric order emerging at the interface between two naturally grown flakes of hexagonal
boron nitride, which are stacked together in a metastable non-centrosymmetric parallel orientation.
We observe alternating domains of inverted normal polarization, caused by a lateral shift of one
lattice site between the domains. Reversible polarization switching coupled to lateral sliding is
achieved by scanning a biased tip above the surface. Our calculations trace the origin of the
phenomenon to a subtle interplay between charge redistribution and ionic displacement and provide
intuitive insights to explore the interfacial polarization and its distinctive “slidetronics” switching
mechanism.
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science.abe8177.pdf
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