Ferroelectrics and multiferroics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phase diagrams of materials are typically based on a static order parameter, but it faces challenges when distinguishing subtle phase changes, such as re-ordering. Here the authors introduce a dynamic re-order parameter, in particular magnons, and illustrate it in a material with complex magnetic phases.

    • Byung Cheol Park
    • , Howon Lee
    •  & Taewoo Ha

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Previous understanding of the coupling between ferroelectric structure and magnetic texture in BiFeO3 has relied on mesoscale measurements. Here, the authors image coupling directly, showing a complex spin cycloid controlled with electric field.

    • Peter Meisenheimer
    • , Guy Moore
    •  & Ramamoorthy Ramesh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sliding ferroelectricity occurs in stacks of van der Waals materials. Depending on the particular stacking, the system can host a spontaneous polarization, and under an applied electric field, polarization domain walls will propagate transverse to the electric field. Here, Yang et al use an optical approach to directly observe this sliding of domain walls in bilayer MoS2.

    • Dongyang Yang
    • , Jing Liang
    •  & Ziliang Ye

  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D bilayers have recently attracted significant attention due to fundamental properties like interlayer excitons and interfacial ferroelectricity. Here, the authors report a density functional theory approach to identify 2586 stable homobilayer systems and calculate their stacking-dependent electronic, magnetic and vibrational properties.

    • Sahar Pakdel
    • , Asbjørn Rasmussen
    •  & Kristian S. Thygesen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Most multi-degrees-of-freedom systems are composed of several piezoelectric stacks, leading to cumbersome and complicated structures. Here, the authors propose a piezo metasurface to achieve various types of high strains in a wide frequency range.

    • Liao Qiao
    • , Xiangyu Gao
    •  & Fei Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing efficient high-density crossbar arrays are nowadays highly demanded for many artificial intelligence applications. Here, the authors propose a two-terminal ferroelectric fin diode non-volatile memory in which a ferroelectric capacitor and a fin-like semiconductor channel are combined to share both top and bottom electrodes with high performance and easy fabrication process

    • Guangdi Feng
    • , Qiuxiang Zhu
    •  & Chungang Duan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In the field of multiferroic thin films, attaining low-temperature epitaxy has been a long-standing problem. In this work, authors propose a pathway to significantly reduce the BiFeO3 thin film growth temperature using the BaBiPbO3 template.

    • Sajid Husain
    • , Isaac Harris
    •  & Ramamoorthy Ramesh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The interaction of flexoelectric polarization arising from strain gradients with ferroelectricity impacts tribological properties and facilitates fine physical lithography without masks or chemicals, with potential applications in various fields.

    • Seongwoo Cho
    • , Iaroslav Gaponenko
    •  & Seungbum Hong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The sign of longitudinal piezoelectric coefficients is typically positive. Here, the authors tune the sign of the linear piezoelectric coefficient of HfO2 from positive to negative via epitaxial strain, finding nonlinear and parabolic piezoelectric behaviors at tensile epitaxial strain.

    • Hao Cheng
    • , Peijie Jiao
    •  & Yurong Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanoscale ferroelectric domains called electric bubbles are shown to behave as dynamical particles. Using atomistic simulations and experiments, the authors reveal a bubble liquid phase and demonstrate teleportation-like displacements of single bubbles.

    • S. Prokhorenko
    • , Y. Nahas
    •  & L. Bellaiche

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A concept of fractional quantum ferroelectricity is proposed, where the direction of ferroelectric polarization difference no longer subjects to the symmetry restrictions of Neumann’s principle. It indicates that ferroelectricity can exist in nonpolar systems, which may lead to discovery of many overlooked ferroelectrics.

    • Junyi Ji
    • , Guoliang Yu
    •  & H. J. Xiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ferroelectric transistors are promising building blocks for developing energy-efficient memory and logic applications. Here, the authors report a record high 300 K resistance on-off ratio achieved in ferroelectric-gated Mott transistors by exploiting a charge transfer layer to tailor the channel carrier density and mitigate the ferroelectric depolarization effect.

    • Yifei Hao
    • , Xuegang Chen
    •  & Xia Hong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetoelectric coupling, where magnetic and electronic order is linked, allows for the control of magnetism via an electric field and vice versa, potentially offering new approaches to data storage, sensors, actuators and wealth of other devices. Here, using a diverse array of experimental probes, Xu et al show the emergence of both diagonal and off-diagonal magnetoelectric coupling in CoTe6O13.

    • Xianghan Xu
    • , Yiqing Hao
    •  & R. J. Cava

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Layered thio- and seleno-phosphate ferroelectrics show promise for next-generation memory but have thermal stability issues. Using the electric field-driven phase transition in antiferroelectric CuCrP2S6, the authors introduce a robust memristor, emphasizing the potential of van der Waals antiferroelectrics in advanced neuromorphic computing.

    • Yinchang Ma
    • , Yuan Yan
    •  & Xixiang Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum effects due to zero-point phonon vibrations are well-explored in bulk ferroelectrics, but little is known about them in ultra-thin films. Luo et al. report atomistic simulations of ultra-thin ferroelectrics, showing that, unlike in bulk, quantum fluctuations stabilize topological structures.

    • Wei Luo
    • , Alireza Akbarzadeh
    •  & Laurent Bellaiche

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experimental approaches that can directly measure spin-lattice coupling are rare. Here, authors report direct observation of the coupling of the phonon and magnon dynamics of a coherently driven electromagnon in a multiferroic hexaferrite using time-resolved X-ray diffraction. (277 characters in total).

    • Hiroki Ueda
    • , Roman Mankowsky
    •  & Urs Staub

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Van der Waals ferroelectrics hold promising potential as electronic materials. Here, the authors have pioneered an electron microscopy technique to unveil both in-plane and out-of-plane structures critical to their switching behavior, providing valuable insights into potential device applications. (298 in total)

    • Chuqiao Shi
    • , Nannan Mao
    •  & Yimo Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent experiments have shown the formation of ferroelectric domains in twisted van der Waals bilayers. Here, the authors report near-field infrared nano-imaging and nano-photocurrent measurements to investigate ferroelectricity in minimally twisted WSe2 by visualizing the plasmonic and photo-thermoelectric response of an adjacent graphene monolayer.

    • Shuai Zhang
    • , Yang Liu
    •  & D. N. Basov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    GeTe is a ferroelectric semiconductor with broken inversion symmetry, which leads to a large spin-orbit interaction. When doped with small amounts of manganese, it becomes magnetoelectric. Here, Krempasky et al show that the ferrimagnetic ordering of Mn-doped GeTe can be switched with unusually small currents under specific resonant conditions, orders of magnitude smaller than typical for spin-orbit torque based switching.

    • Juraj Krempaský
    • , Gunther Springholz
    •  & J. Hugo Dil

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic martensitic compounds are emerging smart materials with intriguing physical properties. Here authors show that upon H/F substitution a series of 1,4,5,8-naphthalenediimide derivatives exhibit reversible ferroelectric and martensitic transitions with a large thermal hysteresis.

    • Nan Zhang
    • , Wencong Sun
    •  & Han-Yue Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetization reversal is a well-studied non-equilibrium process by which a ferromagnet or ferrimagnet reverses its magnetization direction under an applied magnetic field larger than the coercive field. Here, Ghara et al find a new pathway by which this process can occur, showing that in the polar honeycomb magnet (Fe,Zn)2Mo3O8, magnetization reversal involves the emergence of an intermediate antiferromagnetic state.

    • Somnath Ghara
    • , Evgenii Barts
    •  & Joachim Deisenhofer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular ferroelectrics contain stimuli-responsive structure and ionic building blocks, promising for ionically tailored multifunctionality. Here, the authors report molecular ionic ferroelectrics exhibiting the coexistence of room-temperature ionic conductivity and ferroelectricity.

    • Yulong Huang
    • , Jennifer L. Gottfried
    •  & Shenqiang Ren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The layer stacking order in 2D materials can be used to control functional properties. Here, the authors find a thickness effect, where thin flakes of MoTe2 display stacking arrangements different from bulk crystals.

    • James L. Hart
    • , Lopa Bhatt
    •  & Judy J. Cha

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors investigate how the disorder and the interplay of lateral and axial polarization of the polar vortex topology in SrTiO3/PbTiO3 superlattices can lead to the formation of the chiral and achiral domain walls, and subsequently the triple point topologies.

    • Sandhya Susarla
    • , Shanglin Hsu
    •  & Colin Ophus

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors report a hydrostatic-pressure-driven anomalous enhancement of the spontaneous polarization of CuInP2S6 at room temperature, in contrast to the standard pressure-induced suppression of ferroelectricity. The polarization enhancement stems from the spatial instability of the Cu cations and increase of Cu occupancy at the interlayer site.

    • Xiaodong Yao
    • , Yinxin Bai
    •  & Jinlong Zhu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Topological structures could spark promising functionalities in next generation nanoelectronics. Here, the authors report the realization of complex topological polar textures in epitaxial multiferroic BiFeO3 –SrTiO3 superlattices induced by competing electrical and mechanical boundary conditions.

    • Vivasha Govinden
    • , Peiran Tong
    •  & Daniel Sando

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Polar Solomon rings in a ferroelectric nanocrystal have been observed and electrically manipulated, which consist of two intertwined vortices and are mathematically equivalent to a \({4}_{1}^{2}\) link in topology based on knots and links theory.

    • Jing Wang
    • , Deshan Liang
    •  & Ce-Wen Nan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transition metal oxides are a promising class of materials to engineer multiferroic properties for next-generation spintronic devices. Here, the authors demonstrate an emergent and robust ferromagnetic-insulating state in ferroelastic LaCoO3 epitaxial films by strain-defect-microstructure manipulated electronic and magnetic states.

    • Dong Li
    • , Hongguang Wang
    •  & Weiwei Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While reservoir computing can process temporal information efficiently, its hardware implementation remains a challenge due to the lack of robust and energy efficient hardware. Here, the authors develop an all-ferroelectric reservoir computing system, showing high accuracies and low power consumptions in various tasks like the time-series prediction.

    • Zhiwei Chen
    • , Wenjie Li
    •  & Jun-Ming Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In magnetoelectric materials, the magnetization can be controlled by the application of an electric field, making it comparatively easy to switch magnetization, which is attractive for data storage and other proposed devices. Unfortunately, the effect in single-phase materials is typically fairly weak. Here Fogh et al. demonstrate a two orders of magnitude enhancement of the magnetoelectric coupling in LiNi0.8Fe0.2PO4 compared to the parent compounds.

    • Ellen Fogh
    • , Bastian Klemke
    •  & Rasmus Toft-Petersen

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