Interface-mediated local conduction at tubular interfaces in BiFeO3–CoFe2O4 nanocomposites

Abstract

The electronic transport at the topological boundaries holds great promise for applications in next-generation devices. Amongst, tubular interfaces have become an emerging 2D topological state to achieve controllable charge transport path for data storage technologies. However, the mechanism and origin underlying the local conduction at tubular interfaces is still under debate. Herein, we fabricated BiFeO3–CoFe2O4 (BFO-CFO) nanocomposites using magnetron sputtering and systematically investigated the local conduction through variable temperature electrical measurements. We found that the observed conductivity can be well described within an interface-mediated Poole-Frenkel (PF) model combining interface tunneling and PF conduction. And the local current was attributed to the accumulated oxygen vacancies at the tubular interface, which was further confirmed by post-annealing experiments. This study provided further understanding of conduction behavior at complex oxide interfaces and lay the foundation for novel electronic devices.