SKM 2023 – scientific programme
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KFM: Fachverband Kristalline Festkörper und deren Mikrostruktur
KFM 1: Focus: Domains and Domainwalls in (Multi)Ferroics I
KFM 1.2: Talk
Monday, March 27, 2023, 09:30–09:50, POT 51
Understanding sensitivity of ferroelectric domain walls to atmospheric parameters — •Leonie Richarz1, Jan Schultheiß1,2, Edith Bourret3, Zewu Yan3,4, Antonius T.J. van Helvoort1, and Dennis Meier1 — 1NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway — 2University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany — 3Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA — 4ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Ferroelectric domain walls are natural interfaces, separating volumes with different orientation of the spontaneous polarization. The walls can develop completely different electronic properties than the surrounding domains. In ferroelectric oxides, oxygen off-stoichiometry is an additional versatile control parameter, reflected by neutral ferroelectric domain walls in hexagonal manganites: Depending on the oxygen content, their conductance varies from insulating to conducting.
In this work, we change the conductance state of neutral ferroelectric domain walls in high-quality Er(Mn,Ti)O3 single crystals from insulating to conducting by annealing the samples in reducing conditions, e.g., nitrogen. The process can be reversed by annealing under oxidizing conditions, reflecting the outstanding chemical flexibility of the domain walls. The sensitivity to off-stoichiometry can be exploited to utilize the domain walls for sensing applications.
Our results provide new insight into the impact of environmental parameters on the electronic domain wall properties. This is of interest for the development of atmospheric sensors, adding a new direction to the field of domain wall nanotechnology.