Structures and electronic properties of domain walls in BiFeO3 thin films

Huaixun Huyan; Linze Li; Christopher Addiego; Wenpei Gao; Xiaoqing Pan

doi:10.1093/nsr/nwz101

Structures and electronic properties of domain walls in BiFeO₃ thin films

Natl Sci Rev. 2019 Jul;6(4):669-683. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwz101. Epub 2019 Jul 10.

Authors

Huaixun Huyan¹, Linze Li¹, Christopher Addiego², Wenpei Gao¹, Xiaoqing Pan^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
³ Irvine Materials Research Institute, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.

Abstract

Domain walls (DWs) in ferroelectrics are atomically sharp and can be created, erased, and reconfigured within the same physical volume of ferroelectric matrix by external electric fields. They possess a myriad of novel properties and functionalities that are absent in the bulk of the domains, and thus could become an essential element in next-generation nanodevices based on ferroelectrics. The knowledge about the structure and properties of ferroelectric DWs not only advances the fundamental understanding of ferroelectrics, but also provides guidance for the design of ferroelectric-based devices. In this article, we provide a review of structures and properties of DWs in one of the most widely studied ferroelectric systems, BiFeO₃ thin films. We correlate their conductivity and photovoltaic properties to the atomic-scale structure and dynamic behaviors of DWs.

Keywords: BiFeO3; conductivity; domain wall; ferroelectric; photovoltaics; thin film.