Micro-Area Ferroelectric, Piezoelectric and Conductive Properties of Single BiFeO₃ Nanowire by Scanning Probe Microscopy.

Shenglan Wu,Wei Cai,Chunlin Fu,Jing Zhang,Siyi Lv,Xiaoyan Liu,Rongli Gao,Fengqi Wang

doi:10.3390/nano9020190

Abstract

Ferroelectric nanowires have attracted great attention due to their excellent physical properties. We report the domain structure, ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and conductive properties of bismuth ferrite (BFO, short for BiFeO3) nanowires characterized by scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern presents single phase BFO without other obvious impurities. The piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) results indicate that the nanowires possess a multidomain configuration, and the maximum piezoelectric coefficient (d33) of single BFO nanowire is 22.21 pm/V. Poling experiments and local switching spectroscopy piezoresponse force microscopy (SS-PFM) demonstrate that there is sufficient polarization switching behavior and obvious piezoelectric properties in BFO nanowires. The conducting atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) results show that the current is just hundreds of pA at 8 V. These lay the foundation for the application of BFO nanowires in nanodevices.

Highlights

Multiferroic materials, which exhibit both ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties simultaneously as well as magnetoelectric coupling effects, have been intensively studied due to their potential applications in four-stage logic memory devices, magnetoelectric random access memory (MeRAM) [1], magnetic field sensors, energy harvester, magnetoelectric resonator, and read head [2,3,4,5,6]
We report the domain structure, ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and conductive properties of bismuth ferrite (BFO, short for BiFeO3) nanowires characterized by scanning probe microscopy (SPM)
The piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) results indicate that the nanowires possess a multidomain configuration, and the maximum piezoelectric coefficient (d33) of single BFO nanowire is 22.21 pm/V

Summary

Introduction

Multiferroic materials, which exhibit both ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties simultaneously as well as magnetoelectric coupling effects, have been intensively studied due to their potential applications in four-stage logic memory devices, magnetoelectric random access memory (MeRAM) [1], magnetic field sensors, energy harvester, magnetoelectric resonator, and read head [2,3,4,5,6]. One-dimensional structures (nanotubes [10,11], nanorods [12,13], nanowires [14,15], etc.) that have surface effects, size effects, and macroscopic quantum tunneling effects offer prospects for enhancing the electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties of a broad range of functional materials and composites [16,17,18,19,20], and play a momentous role in the generation of electron devices. Most of the research focuses on macroscopic properties and studies on the domain structure of single NW are still lacking. It is necessary to research the domain structure and micro-zone properties of NWs

Methods

Results

Conclusion