Abstract
Room-temperature (RT) multiferroic materials have received significant research attention for various potential applications; however, their properties are not suitable for real-world implementation. In this study, a nano-scale localized flexoelectric effect is introduced to enhance the RT multiferroic performance of epitaxial bismuth iron oxide (BiFeO3; BFO) thin films by embedding 10 mol% Ba(Cu1/3Nb2/3)O3 (BCN) nano-clusters into the host BFO film, which originally has a rhombohedral crystal structure. By utilizing nano-clustering, a large out-of-plane coherent strain is localized around the nano-clusters, resulting in a highly strained tetragonality of the BFO structure; subsequently, the films exhibit peculiar types of domains and domain walls, such as nano-scale rotational vortices and antiparallel dipole configurations. These peculiar domain structures, which originate from the localized flexoelectric effect at the nano-scale, enable excellent ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, and RT multiferroic magnetoelectric coupling. This study reveals that the local variation in the localized flexoelectric field around nano-clusters considerably impacts the formation of unusual domain-wall structures. This suggests that the controlled introduction of nano-clusters with different crystal structures is promising for achieving the desired multiferroic properties.
Original language | English (US) |
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Journal | Advanced Functional Materials |
DOIs | |
State | Accepted/In press - 2024 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- General Chemistry
- Biomaterials
- General Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Electrochemistry