Unraveling Strain Gradient Induced Electromechanical Coupling in Twisted Double Bilayer Graphene Moiré Superlattices

Li, Yuhao; Wang, Xiao; Tang, Deqi; Wang, Xi; Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi; Gamelin, Daniel R.; Cobden, David H.; Yankowitz, Matthew; Xu, Xiaodong; Li, Jiangyu

doi:10.1002/adma.202105879

Title: Unraveling Strain Gradient Induced Electromechanical Coupling in Twisted Double Bilayer Graphene Moiré Superlattices

Journal Article · Sun Oct 10 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Advanced Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202105879· OSTI ID:1976197

Li, Yuhao ^[1]; Wang, Xiao ^[2]; Tang, Deqi ^[3]; Wang, Xi ^[4]; Watanabe, Kenji ^[5]; Taniguchi, Takashi ^[5]; Gamelin, Daniel R. ^[4]; Cobden, David H. ^[4]; Yankowitz, Matthew ^[4]; Xu, Xiaodong ^[4];

^[6]

University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen (China)
University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenzhen (China)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenzhen (China)
University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba (Japan)
Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shenzhen (China)

Moiré superlattices of 2D materials with a small twist angle are thought to exhibit appreciable flexoelectric effect, though unambiguous confirmation of their flexoelectricity is challenging due to artifacts associated with commonly used piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM). For example, unexpectedly small phase contrast (≈8°) between opposite flexoelectric polarizations is reported in twisted bilayer graphene (tBG), though theoretically predicted value is 180°. We report a methodology is developed to extract intrinsic moiré flexoelectricity using twisted double bilayer graphene (tDBG) as a model system, probed by lateral PFM. For small twist angle samples, it is found that a vectorial decomposition is essential to recover the small intrinsic flexoelectric response at domain walls from a large background signal. The obtained threefold symmetry of commensurate domains with significant flexoelectric response at domain walls is fully consistent with the theoretical calculations. Incommensurate domains in tDBG with relatively large twist angles can also be observed by this technique. A general strategy is provided here for unraveling intrinsic flexoelectricity in van der Waals moiré superlattices while providing insights into engineered symmetry breaking in centrosymmetric materials.

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Research Organization:: Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); Boeing Distinguished Professorship; State of Washington; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT); Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST); National Key Research and Development Program of China; Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee; Leading Talents Program of Guangdong Province; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory Program

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0019443; DMR-1719797; JPMJCR15F3; 2016YFA0201001; JCYJ20170818163902553; 2016LJ06C372

OSTI ID:: 1976197

Journal Information:: Advanced Materials, Vol. 33, Issue 51; ISSN 0935-9648

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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