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Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 047601 (2009) [4 pages]

Reversible Chemical Switching of a Ferroelectric Film

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R. V. Wang1,2,*, D. D. Fong1, F. Jiang1,†, M. J. Highland1, P. H. Fuoss1, Carol Thompson3, A. M. Kolpak4,‡, J. A. Eastman1, S. K. Streiffer2, A. M. Rappe4, and G. B. Stephenson1,2
1Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
2Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
3Department of Physics, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA
4The Makineni Theoretical Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA

Received 19 July 2008; revised 25 September 2008; published 26 January 2009

See accompanying Physics Viewpoint

According to recent experiments and predictions, the orientation of the polarization at the surface of a ferroelectric material can affect its surface chemistry. Here we demonstrate the converse effect: the chemical environment can control the polarization orientation in a ferroelectric film. In situ synchrotron x-ray scattering measurements show that high or low oxygen partial pressure induces outward or inward polarization, respectively, in an ultrathin PbTiO3 film. Ab initio calculations provide insight into surface structure changes observed during chemical switching.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.047601
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.047601
PACS:
77.80.Fm, 68.43.−h, 68.47.Gh, 77.84.Dy

*Present address: Numonyx Corp., Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA.

†Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA.

‡Present address: Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.

 
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