TY - JOUR
T1 - Water printing of ferroelectric polarization
AU - Tian, Yu
AU - Wei, Lanying
AU - Zhang, Qinghua
AU - Huang, Houbing
AU - Zhang, Yuelin
AU - Zhou, Hua
AU - Ma, Fengjie
AU - Gu, Lin
AU - Meng, Sheng
AU - Chen, Long Qing
AU - Nan, Ce Wen
AU - Zhang, Jinxing
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Ferroelectrics, which generate a switchable electric field across the solid–liquid interface, may provide a platform to control chemical reactions (physical properties) using physical fields (chemical stimuli). However, it is challenging to in-situ control such polarization-induced interfacial chemical structure and electric field. Here, we report that construction of chemical bonds at the surface of ferroelectric BiFeO3 in aqueous solution leads to a reversible bulk polarization switching. Combining piezoresponse (electrostatic) force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, first-principles calculations and phase-field simulations, we discover that the reversible polarization switching is ascribed to the sufficient formation of polarization-selective chemical bonds at its surface, which decreases the interfacial chemical energy. Therefore, the bulk electrostatic energy can be effectively tuned by H+/OH− concentration. This water-induced ferroelectric switching allows us to construct large-scale type-printing of polarization using green energy and opens up new opportunities for sensing, high-efficient catalysis, and data storage.
AB - Ferroelectrics, which generate a switchable electric field across the solid–liquid interface, may provide a platform to control chemical reactions (physical properties) using physical fields (chemical stimuli). However, it is challenging to in-situ control such polarization-induced interfacial chemical structure and electric field. Here, we report that construction of chemical bonds at the surface of ferroelectric BiFeO3 in aqueous solution leads to a reversible bulk polarization switching. Combining piezoresponse (electrostatic) force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, first-principles calculations and phase-field simulations, we discover that the reversible polarization switching is ascribed to the sufficient formation of polarization-selective chemical bonds at its surface, which decreases the interfacial chemical energy. Therefore, the bulk electrostatic energy can be effectively tuned by H+/OH− concentration. This water-induced ferroelectric switching allows us to construct large-scale type-printing of polarization using green energy and opens up new opportunities for sensing, high-efficient catalysis, and data storage.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-018-06369-w
DO - 10.1038/s41467-018-06369-w
M3 - Article
C2 - 30228308
AN - SCOPUS:85053556884
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 9
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
IS - 1
M1 - 3809
ER -