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Stable and switchable electric polarization in two dimensions

The electric polarization of materials called ferroelectrics is often suppressed by an internal electric field, limiting uses for these materials. The discovery of a thin-film ferroelectric that is resistant to this field represents a major advance.
  1. Turan Birol

    1. Turan Birol is in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.

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Materials known as ferroelectrics have a macroscopic, switchable electric polarization that can be controlled by an external electric field1. This strong coupling to electric fields, however, is also the bane of ferroelectrics. Electric charges that accumulate on the surfaces of these materials produce an internal electric field called a depolarization field that, if not mitigated by external electrodes, is often large enough to suppress the polarization completely. Writing in Physical Review Letters, Xiao et al.2 report the observation of ferroelectricity that is invulnerable to the depolarization field in thin films of indium selenide (In2Se3). This feature results from an atypical mechanism that drives the ferroelectricity in indium selenide, and opens the way for both the discovery of other ferroelectrics and further applications for them.

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Nature 560, 174-175 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05807-5

References

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