Ferroelectricity and multiferroicity in anti–Ruddlesden–Popper structures

Abstract

Combining ferroelectricity with other properties such as visible light absorption or long-range magnetic order requires the discovery of new families of ferroelectric materials. Here, through the analysis of a high-throughput database of phonon band structures, we identify a structural family of anti-Ruddlesden-Popper phases [Formula: see text]O (A=Ca, Sr, Ba, Eu, X=Sb, P, As, Bi) showing ferroelectric and antiferroelectric behaviors. The discovered ferroelectrics belong to the new class of hyperferroelectrics that polarize even under open-circuit boundary conditions. The polar distortion involves the movement of O anions against apical A cations and is driven by geometric effects resulting from internal chemical strains. Within this structural family, we show that [Formula: see text]O combines coupled ferromagnetic and ferroelectric order at the same atomic site, a very rare occurrence in materials physics.