Enhanced flexoelectricity at reduced dimensions revealed by mechanically tunable quantum tunnelling

Saikat Das, Bo Wang, Tula R. Paudel, Sung Min Park, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Long-Qing Chen, Daesu Lee () and Tae Won Noh ()
Additional contact information
Saikat Das: Institute for Basic Science (IBS)
Bo Wang: University Park
Tula R. Paudel: University of Nebraska
Sung Min Park: Institute for Basic Science (IBS)
Evgeny Y. Tsymbal: University of Nebraska
Long-Qing Chen: University Park
Daesu Lee: Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)
Tae Won Noh: Institute for Basic Science (IBS)

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Flexoelectricity is a universal electromechanical coupling effect whereby all dielectric materials polarise in response to strain gradients. In particular, nanoscale flexoelectricity promises exotic phenomena and functions, but reliable characterisation methods are required to unlock its potential. Here, we report anomalous mechanical control of quantum tunnelling that allows for characterising nanoscale flexoelectricity. By applying strain gradients with an atomic force microscope tip, we systematically polarise an ultrathin film of otherwise nonpolar SrTiO3, and simultaneously measure tunnel current across it. The measured tunnel current exhibits critical behaviour as a function of strain gradients, which manifests large modification of tunnel barrier profiles via flexoelectricity. Further analysis of this critical behaviour reveals significantly enhanced flexocoupling strength in ultrathin SrTiO3, compared to that in bulk, rendering flexoelectricity more potent at the nanoscale. Our study not only suggests possible applications exploiting dynamic mechanical control of quantum effect, but also paves the way to characterise nanoscale flexoelectricity.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08462-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-08462-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08462-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().