New directions in ferroelectrics

Ferroelectrics have already impacted scientific research and commercial applications, but they still show plenty of potential to surprise.

Research on two-dimensional van der Waals ferroelectrics has witnessed an explosion over the past few years. This Perspective formulates a framework by which results can be analysed, reviews recent progress, discusses mechanisms and properties for applications, and outlines challenges to be addressed.

Nanoscale ferroelectric topological solitons, such as polar bubbles, polar bubble skyrmions and hopfions, have garnered immense interest due to their emergent properties. This Perspective discusses how these structures form, advances in their study and how they can enable new devices and physics.

The discovery of ferroelectric switching in ultrathin layers of hafnium dioxide has aroused significant interest for low-power non-volatile memory technologies. This Perspective discusses how lessons learned from hafnium dioxide-based ferroelectrics can be applied to other applications, and other binary oxides.