Enhanced Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Properties in Graphene-Electroded Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 Thin Films

Hua Fan; Zhengwei Tan; Haoyang Liu; Luyong Zhang; Fengyuan Zhang; Wanshun Du; Zhen Fan; Xingsen Gao; Feng Pan; Dapeng Yu; Yue Zhao

doi:10.1021/acsami.2c02277

Enhanced Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Properties in Graphene-Electroded Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ Thin Films

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Apr 20;14(15):17987-17994. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c02277. Epub 2022 Apr 5.

Authors

Hua Fan^{1

2}, Zhengwei Tan³, Haoyang Liu², Luyong Zhang³, Fengyuan Zhang^{4

5}, Wanshun Du², Zhen Fan³, Xingsen Gao³, Feng Pan¹, Dapeng Yu², Yue Zhao²

Affiliations

¹ School of Advanced Materials, Peking University, Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China.
² Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering and Department of Physics, Southern University of Science and Technology of China, Shenzhen 518055, China.
³ Institute for Advanced Materials and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
⁴ School of Physics, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
⁵ Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China.

PMID: 35380776
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c02277

Abstract

While using ferroelectric polarization to tune the functional properties of 2D materials has been extensively studied recently, the effects of 2D materials on the ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity of ferroelectrics are much less explored. In this work, we report markedly enhanced ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of graphene/Pb(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃/SrRuO₃ (GR/PZT/SRO) capacitors. Compared with conventional metal-electroded ferroelectric capacitors, the GR/PZT/SRO capacitors exhibit more abrupt polarization switching, larger switchable polarization, lower leakage current, and smaller coercive voltage. Moreover, with graphene electrodes, the ferroelectric properties of PZT capacitors are much more stable against aging. The enhanced ferroelectric behaviors in GR/PZT/SRO capacitors can be attributed to an improved interface with fewer defects and inhibited growth of defective interfacial layer resulting from the graphene protection. Because of the atomic thickness and extraordinary mechanical flexibility of graphene, the piezoelectric response in PZT with graphene electrode is about four times larger than the one with an Au electrode. Our findings on the enhanced ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of PZT with 2D electrodes advance the understanding of the 2D/PZT interface and provide solutions for developing high-performance ferroelectrics devices.

Keywords: 2D materials; Ferroelectric; Graphene; Interface; Pb(Zr,Ti)O3.