Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Complex oxides

Creative tension in layered crystals

Nature Materials volume 15, pages 928–930 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

New findings suggest that the mechanical stretching of layered crystals can transform them from a polar to a nonpolar state. This could spur the design of multifunctional materials controlled by an electric field.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The return of inversion symmetry by a polar–nonpolar transition.
Figure 2: An illustration of the varied chemistry and layering schemes of complex oxides.

References

  1. Lu, X.-Z. & Rondinelli, J. M. Nature Mater. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nmat4664 (2016).

  2. Newnham, R. E. Properties of Materials: Anisotropy, Symmetry, Structure 1st edn, Ch. 3, Table 3.2 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Schaak, R. E. & Mallouk, T. E. Chem. Mater. 14, 1455–1471 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Benedek, N. A. & Fennie, C. J. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 107204 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Perez-Mato, J. M. et al. Phys. Rev. B 77, 184104 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Oh, S. Y., Luo, X., Huang, F.-T., Wang, Y. & Cheong, S.-W. Nature Mater. 14, 407–413 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Pitcher, M. J. et al. Science 347, 420–424 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Bousquet, E. et al. Nature 452, 732–736 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Schlom, D. G. et al. MRS Bull. 39, 118–130 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Belsky, A., Hellenbrandt, M., Karen, V. L. & Luksch, P. Acta Cryst. 58, 364–369 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge discussions with V. Crespi (Pennsylvania State University, USA), and thank P. Balachandran (Los Alamos National Lab, USA) for generating the data in Fig. 2.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Venkatraman Gopalan and Roman Engel-Herbert are in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Millennium Science Complex, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA,

    Venkatraman Gopalan & Roman Engel-Herbert

Authors
  1. Venkatraman Gopalan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Roman Engel-Herbert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Venkatraman Gopalan or Roman Engel-Herbert.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gopalan, V., Engel-Herbert, R. Creative tension in layered crystals. Nature Mater 15, 928–930 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4662

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4662

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing