Room-temperature ferroelectricity in MoTe<sub>2</sub> down to the atomic monolayer limit.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30992431.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-09669-x and PMC identifier 6467908.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Ferroelectrics allow for a wide range of intriguing applications. However, maintaining ferroelectricity has been hampered by intrinsic depolarization effects. Here, by combining first-principles calculations and experimental studies, we report on the discovery of robust room-temperature out-of-plane ferroelectricity which is realized in the thinnest monolayer MoTe<sub>2</sub> with unexploited distorted 1T (d1T) phase. The origin of the ferroelectricity in d1T-MoTe<sub>2</sub> results from the spontaneous symmetry breaking due to the relative atomic displacements of Mo atoms and Te atoms. Furthermore, a large ON/OFF resistance ratio is achieved in ferroelectric devices composed of MoTe<sub>2</sub>-based van der Waals heterostructure. Our work demonstrates that ferroelectricity can exist in two-dimensional layered material down to the atomic monolayer limit, which can result in new functionalities and achieve unexpected applications in atomic-scale electronic devices.