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A ferroelectric-like structural transition in a metal

Nature Materials volume 12, pages 1024–1027 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Metals cannot exhibit ferroelectricity because static internal electric fields are screened by conduction electrons1, but in 1965, Anderson and Blount predicted the possibility of a ferroelectric metal, in which a ferroelectric-like structural transition occurs in the metallic state2. Up to now, no clear example of such a material has been identified. Here we report on a centrosymmetric () to non-centrosymmetric (R3c) transition in metallic LiOsO3 that is structurally equivalent to the ferroelectric transition of LiNbO3 (ref. 3). The transition involves a continuous shift in the mean position of Li+ ions on cooling below 140 K. Its discovery realizes the scenario described in ref. 2, and establishes a new class of materials whose properties may differ from those of normal metals.

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Figure 1: Temperature variation of the structural properties of LiOsO3 from Rietveld analysis of neutron diffraction data.
Figure 2: Experimental and simulated CBED patterns for LiOsO3 taken along the [120] zone axis.
Figure 3: Temperature variation of the electrical, magnetic and calorimetric properties of LiOsO3.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Miyakawa (NIMS) for the high-pressure synthesis experiment, H. X. Yang (CAS) and J. Q. Li (CAS) for the ED study, S. Takenouchi (NIMS) for the AAS, and A. Aimi (Gakushuin Univ.), M. Tachibana (NIMS) and M. Terauchi (Tohoku Univ.) for discussion and suggestions. This research was supported in part by the World Premier International Research Center from MEXT, Japan; a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (22246083 and 25289233) from JSPS, Japan; the Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology (FIRST Program) from JSPS, Japan; the Advanced Low Carbon Technology Research and Development Program (ALCA) of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Japan; the 973 project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2011CB921701 and 2011CBA00110), China; and the United Kingdom Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

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  1. Youguo Shi and Yanfeng Guo: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Superconducting Properties Unit, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan

    Youguo Shi, Yanfeng Guo, Xia Wang, Shan Yu & Kazunari Yamaura

  2. Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

    Youguo Shi & Nanlin Wang

  3. Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK

    Yanfeng Guo, Andrew J. Princep & Andrew T. Boothroyd

  4. ISIS Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot OX11 0QX, UK

    Dmitry Khalyavin & Pascal Manuel

  5. Sialon Unit, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan

    Yuichi Michiue

  6. Materials Analysis Station, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan

    Akira Sato

  7. Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, 2-1-1, Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan

    Kenji Tsuda

  8. Computational Materials Science Unit, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan

    Masao Arai

  9. Department of Chemistry, Gakushuin University, 1-5-1 Mejiro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 171-8588, Japan

    Yuichi Shirako & Masaki Akaogi

Authors
  1. Youguo Shi
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Contributions

Y.S. and K.Y. conceived the experiments. Y.S. grew and characterized the crystals together with Y.G., X.W., S.Y. and N.W. Y.M. and A.S. conducted crystal structure analysis by XRD. A.J.P., Y.G., D.K. and P.M. performed powder neutron diffraction measurements and analysis. K.T. performed the CBED experiments, data analysis, and data interpretation. M. Arai investigated the electronic structure by first-principles calculation. Y.S. and M. Akaogi investigated the crystal structure stability under high-pressure conditions. K.Y. and A.T.B. supervised the project and co-wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kazunari Yamaura or Andrew T. Boothroyd.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Shi, Y., Guo, Y., Wang, X. et al. A ferroelectric-like structural transition in a metal. Nature Mater 12, 1024–1027 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3754

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