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Title: Controlled manipulation of oxygen vacancies using nanoscale flexoelectricity

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
 [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [4];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [5];  [2];  [1]
  1. Inst. for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Center for Correlated Electron Systems; Seoul National University (SNU), Seoul (Republic of Korea). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  2. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States).Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Inst. for Functional Imaging of Materials
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS); Sookmyung Women's Univ., Seoul (Republic of Korea). Dept. of Physics
  5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Inst. for Functional Imaging of Materials

Oxygen vacancies, especially their distribution, are directly coupled to the electromagnetic properties of oxides and related emergent functionalities that have implications for device applications. Here using a homoepitaxial strontium titanate thin film, we demonstrate a controlled manipulation of the oxygen vacancy distribution using the mechanical force from a scanning probe microscope tip. By combining Kelvin probe force microscopy imaging and phase-field simulations, we show that oxygen vacancies can move under a stress-gradient-induced depolarisation field. When tailored, this nanoscale flexoelectric effect enables a controlled spatial modulation. In motion, the scanning probe tip thereby deterministically reconfigures the spatial distribution of vacancies. Finally, the ability to locally manipulate oxygen vacancies on-demand provides a tool for the exploration of mesoscale quantum phenomena and engineering multifunctional oxide devices.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); Institute for Basic Science in Korea; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; IBS-R009-D1; DMR-1410714; ERKCZ07
OSTI ID:
1407737
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 8, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 79 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (19)

Electrostatic memory in KTaO 3 journal April 2019
Giant Electroresistance in Ferroionic Tunnel Junctions journal June 2019
Strain-gradient mediated local conduction in strained bismuth ferrite films journal June 2019
Dynamics of Photo‐Induced Surface Oxygen Vacancies in Metal‐Oxide Semiconductors Studied Under Ambient Conditions journal September 2019
Enabling nanoscale flexoelectricity at extreme temperature by tuning cation diffusion journal October 2018
On the mechanisms of tip-force induced switching in ferroelectric thin films: the crossover of depolarization, shear strain and flexoelectricity journal February 2019
Dynamic mechanical control of local vacancies in NiO thin films journal May 2018
Tuning defects in oxides at room temperature by lithium reduction journal April 2018
Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions: Modulations on the Potential Barrier journal October 2019
Probing vacancy behavior across complex oxide heterointerfaces text January 2019
Fabrication of hollow pompon-like Co 3 O 4 nanostructures with rich defects and high-index facet exposure for enhanced oxygen evolution catalysis journal January 2019
Enhanced flexoelectricity at reduced dimensions revealed by mechanically tunable quantum tunnelling journal February 2019
Flexoelectricity in ferroelectric materials journal September 2019
Piezoresponse force microscopy and nanoferroic phenomena journal April 2019
Nanoscale mechanical control of surface electrical properties of manganite films with magnetic nanoparticles journal January 2019
Mechanical probing of ferroelectrics at the nanoscale journal January 2019
Probing vacancy behavior across complex oxide heterointerfaces journal February 2019
Room‐Temperature AFM Electric‐Field‐Induced Topotactic Transformation between Perovskite and Brownmillerite SrFeO x with Sub‐Micrometer Spatial Resolution journal September 2019
Effect of epitaxial strain and vacancies on the ferroelectric-like response of CaTiO 3 thin films journal October 2018

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