Emergent Electric Field Control of Phase Transformation in Oxide Superlattices

Published

February 1, 2020

Author(s)

Di Yi, Yujia Wang, Olaf M. J. van t'Erve, Liubin Xu, Hongtao Yuan, Michael J. Veit, Purnima P. Balakrishnan, Yongseong Choi, Alpha T. N'Diaye, Padraic Shafer, E. Arenholz, Alexander Grutter, Haixuan Xu, Pu Yu, Berend T. Jonker, Yuri Suzuki

Abstract

Electric fields have been shown to transform materials with respect to their structure and properties, thus enabling many applications ranging from batteries to spintronics. Recently electrolytic gating, which can generate large electric fields and voltage-driven ion transfer^1,2, has been identified as a powerful means to achieve electric-field-controlled phase transformation. To this end, transition metal 24 oxides (TMOs) provide potential candidates. However, although a wide range of single-phase TMOs have been scrutinized under electrolytic gating^3-12, very few show reversible structural transformation at room-temperature. Here, we report the realization of a digitally synthesized TMO that shows reversible, electric-field-controlled transformation between distinct crystalline phases at room-temperature. In superlattices comprised of alternating unit-cells of SrIrO₃ and La_0.2Sr_0.8MnO₃, we find a reversible phase transformation with a 7% lattice change, accompanied by dramatic changes in chemical, electronic, magnetic and optical properties, by controlling the transfer of oxygen and hydrogen ions. Strikingly, this phase transformation is absent in the constituent oxides or their solid solutions. Our findings open up a new class of materials for voltage-controlled functionality.

Citation

Nature Communications

Volume

11

Issue

1

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

ionics, magnetism, oxide, superlattice, hydrogen, neutron scattering, phase transition, ionic liquid, gating

Citation

Yi, D. , Wang, Y. , van t'Erve, O. , Xu, L. , Yuan, H. , Veit, M. , Balakrishnan, P. , Choi, Y. , N'Diaye, A. , Shafer, P. , Arenholz, E. , Grutter, A. , Xu, H. , Yu, P. , Jonker, B. and Suzuki, Y. (2020), Emergent Electric Field Control of Phase Transformation in Oxide Superlattices, Nature Communications, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=928578 (Accessed September 8, 2024)