Ionic tuning of cobaltites at the nanoscale
- National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). NIST Center for Neutron Research; Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
- National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). NIST Center for Neutron Research
- Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Physics Dept.
- Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source
- Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource
- Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Physics Dept.; Georgetown Univ., Washington, DC (United States). Physics Dept.
Control of materials through custom design of ionic distributions represents a powerful new approach to develop future technologies ranging from spintronic logic and memory devices to energy storage. Perovskites have shown particular promise for ionic devices due to their high ion mobility and sensitivity to chemical stoichiometry. We demonstrate a solid-state approach to control of ionic distributions in $$(\mathrm{La},\mathrm{Sr})\mathrm{Co}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$$ thin films. Depositing a Gd capping layer on the perovskite film, oxygen is controllably extracted from the structure, up to 0.5 O/u.c. throughout the entire 36-nm thickness. Commensurate with the oxygen extraction, the Co valence state and saturation magnetization show a smooth continuous variation. In contrast, magnetoresistance measurements show no change in the magnetic anisotropy and a rapid increase in the resistivity over the same range of oxygen stoichiometry. These results suggest significant phase separation, with metallic ferromagnetic regions and oxygen-deficient, insulating, nonferromagnetic regions, forming percolated networks. Indeed, x-ray diffraction identifies oxygen-vacancy ordering, including transformation to a brownmillerite crystal structure. The unexpected transformation to the brownmillerite phase at ambient temperature is further confirmed by high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy which shows significant structural—and correspondingly chemical—phase separation. This work demonstrates room-temperature ionic control of magnetism, electrical resistivity, and crystalline structure in a 36-nm-thick film, presenting opportunities for ionic devices that leverage multiple material functionalities.
- Research Organization:
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States); Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); United States Dept. of Commerce; National Science Foundation (NSF); Univ. of California (United States); UC Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) (UCRI)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515; AC02-05CH11231; DMR-1610060; ECCS-1611424; MR-15-328528
- OSTI ID:
- 1490404
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1475473; OSTI ID: 1634039
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Materials, Vol. 2, Issue 10; ISSN 2475-9953
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Electrolyte-gated magnetoelectric actuation: Phenomenology, materials, mechanisms, and prospective applications
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journal | March 2019 |
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Related Subjects
25 ENERGY STORAGE
anisotropic magnetoresistance
magnetic phase transitions
magnetism
metal-insulator transition
phase separation
phase transitions
perovskite
solid-solid interfaces
neutron reflectometry
scanning transmission electron microscopy
X-ray absorption spectroscopy
X-ray diffraction
X-ray magnetic circular dichroism