Giant ferroelectric polarization in a bilayer graphene heterostructure

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 6241
• Main Authors: Niu, Ruirui, Li, Zhuoxian, Han, Xiangyan, Qu, Zhuangzhuang, Ding, Dongdong, Wang, Zhiyu, Liu, Qianling, Liu, Tianyao, Han, Chunrui, Watanabe, Kenji, Taniguchi, Takashi, Wu, Menghao, Ren, Qi, Wang, Xueyun, Hong, Jiawang, Mao, Jinhai, Han, Zheng, Liu, Kaihui, Gan, Zizhao, Lu, Jianming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 21-10-2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/133; 142/126; 639/925/357/1018; 639/925/918/1052; Bilayers; Boron; Boron nitride; Charge density; Crystal structure; Crystals; Electronic structure; Electrons; Fermi surfaces; Ferroelectric materials; Ferroelectricity; Graphene; Heterostructures; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hysteresis loops; multidisciplinary; Physical properties; Polarization; Quantum phenomena; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Screening; Superlattices; Switching
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34104-z

At the interface of van der Waals heterostructures, the crystal symmetry and the electronic structure can be reconstructed, giving rise to physical properties superior to or absent in parent materials. Here by studying a Bernal bilayer graphene moiré superlattice encapsulated by 30°-twisted boron nitride flakes, we report an unprecedented ferroelectric polarization with the areal charge density up to 10
13 
cm
−2
, which is far beyond the capacity of a moiré band. The translated polarization ~5 pC m
−1
is among the highest interfacial ferroelectrics engineered by artificially stacking van der Waals crystals. The gate-specific ferroelectricity and co-occurring anomalous screening are further visualized via Landau levels, and remain robust for Fermi surfaces outside moiré bands, confirming their independence on correlated electrons. We also find that the gate-specific resistance hysteresis loops could be turned off by the other gate, providing an additional control knob. Furthermore, the ferroelectric switching can be applied to intrinsic properties such as topological valley current. Overall, the gate-specific ferroelectricity with strongly enhanced charge polarization may encourage more explorations to optimize and enrich this novel class of ferroelectricity, and promote device applications for ferroelectric switching of various quantum phenomena.
Interfacial ferroelectricity may emerge in moiré superlattices. Here, the authors find that the polarized charge is much larger than the capacity of the moiré miniband and the associated anomalous screening exists outside the band.