Current induced electromechanical strain in thin antipolar Ag<sub>2</sub>Se semiconductor.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39979290.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-57057-5 and PMC identifier 11842724.
- 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
Electromechanical coupling permits energy conversion between electrical and elastic forms, with wide applications<sup>1,2</sup>. This conversion is usually observed in dielectric materials as piezoelectricity and electrostriction<sup>3-7</sup>. Electromechanical coupling response has also been observed in semiconductors<sup>8</sup>, however, the mechanism in semiconductors with a small bandgap remains contentious. Here we present a breakthrough discovery of a giant electromechanical strain triggered by the electric current in thin antipolar Ag<sub>2</sub>Se semiconductor. This phenomenon is made possible by the alteration of dipoles at a low current density (step I), followed by a phase transition under a moderate current density (step II), leading to a local strain of 6.7% measured by in-situ transmission electron microscopy. Our finding demonstrates that electric current has both thermal and athermal effect (e.g. alteration of dipoles and interaction of dipole vortices with the electric current). This strain allows for the concurrent control of electroelastic deformation and electric conductivity.