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Charge-polarized interfacial superlattices in marginally twisted hexagonal boron nitride

Author

Listed:
  • C. R. Woods

    (Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester
    University of Manchester)

  • P. Ares

    (Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester
    University of Manchester)

  • H. Nevison-Andrews

    (Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester
    University of Manchester)

  • M. J. Holwill

    (Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester
    University of Manchester)

  • R. Fabregas

    (Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester)

  • F. Guinea

    (Imdea Nanociencia, Faraday 9
    Donostia International Physics Center)

  • A. K. Geim

    (Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester
    University of Manchester)

  • K. S. Novoselov

    (Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester
    University of Manchester
    National University of Singapore
    Liangjiang New Area)

  • N. R. Walet

    (Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester)

  • L. Fumagalli

    (Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Manchester
    University of Manchester)

Abstract

When two-dimensional crystals are brought into close proximity, their interaction results in reconstruction of electronic spectrum and crystal structure. Such reconstruction strongly depends on the twist angle between the crystals, which has received growing attention due to interesting electronic and optical properties that arise in graphene and transitional metal dichalcogenides. Here we study two insulating crystals of hexagonal boron nitride stacked at small twist angle. Using electrostatic force microscopy, we observe ferroelectric-like domains arranged in triangular superlattices with a large surface potential. The observation is attributed to interfacial elastic deformations that result in out-of-plane dipoles formed by pairs of boron and nitrogen atoms belonging to opposite interfacial surfaces. This creates a bilayer-thick ferroelectric with oppositely polarized (BN and NB) dipoles in neighbouring domains, in agreement with our modeling. These findings open up possibilities for designing van der Waals heterostructures and offer an alternative probe to study moiré-superlattice electrostatic potentials.

Suggested Citation

  • C. R. Woods & P. Ares & H. Nevison-Andrews & M. J. Holwill & R. Fabregas & F. Guinea & A. K. Geim & K. S. Novoselov & N. R. Walet & L. Fumagalli, 2021. "Charge-polarized interfacial superlattices in marginally twisted hexagonal boron nitride," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-7, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-20667-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20667-2
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    Cited by:

    1. Dongyang Yang & Jing Liang & Jingda Wu & Yunhuan Xiao & Jerry I. Dadap & Kenji Watanabe & Takashi Taniguchi & Ziliang Ye, 2024. "Non-volatile electrical polarization switching via domain wall release in 3R-MoS2 bilayer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Feng-Ren Fan & Cong Xiao & Wang Yao, 2024. "Intrinsic dipole Hall effect in twisted MoTe2: magnetoelectricity and contact-free signatures of topological transitions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    3. Daniel Bennett & Gaurav Chaudhary & Robert-Jan Slager & Eric Bousquet & Philippe Ghosez, 2023. "Polar meron-antimeron networks in strained and twisted bilayers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    4. Ming Lv & Jiulong Wang & Ming Tian & Neng Wan & Wenyi Tong & Chungang Duan & Jiamin Xue, 2024. "Multiresistance states in ferro- and antiferroelectric trilayer boron nitride," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    5. Xiao-Wei Zhang & Chong Wang & Xiaoyu Liu & Yueyao Fan & Ting Cao & Di Xiao, 2024. "Polarization-driven band topology evolution in twisted MoTe2 and WSe2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    6. Peng Meng & Yaze Wu & Renji Bian & Er Pan & Biao Dong & Xiaoxu Zhao & Jiangang Chen & Lishu Wu & Yuqi Sun & Qundong Fu & Qing Liu & Dong Shi & Qi Zhang & Yong-Wei Zhang & Zheng Liu & Fucai Liu, 2022. "Sliding induced multiple polarization states in two-dimensional ferroelectrics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Yunze Gao & Astrid Weston & Vladimir Enaldiev & Xiao Li & Wendong Wang & James E. Nunn & Isaac Soltero & Eli G. Castanon & Amy Carl & Hugo Latour & Alex Summerfield & Matthew Hamer & James Howarth & N, 2024. "Tunnel junctions based on interfacial two dimensional ferroelectrics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    8. Yan Sun & Shuting Xu & Zheqi Xu & Jiamin Tian & Mengmeng Bai & Zhiying Qi & Yue Niu & Hein Htet Aung & Xiaolu Xiong & Junfeng Han & Cuicui Lu & Jianbo Yin & Sheng Wang & Qing Chen & Reshef Tenne & All, 2022. "Mesoscopic sliding ferroelectricity enabled photovoltaic random access memory for material-level artificial vision system," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    9. Shuai Zhang & Yang Liu & Zhiyuan Sun & Xinzhong Chen & Baichang Li & S. L. Moore & Song Liu & Zhiying Wang & S. E. Rossi & Ran Jing & Jordan Fonseca & Birui Yang & Yinming Shao & Chun-Ying Huang & Tak, 2023. "Visualizing moiré ferroelectricity via plasmons and nano-photocurrent in graphene/twisted-WSe2 structures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    10. Ruirui Niu & Zhuoxian Li & Xiangyan Han & Zhuangzhuang Qu & Dongdong Ding & Zhiyu Wang & Qianling Liu & Tianyao Liu & Chunrui Han & Kenji Watanabe & Takashi Taniguchi & Menghao Wu & Qi Ren & Xueyun Wa, 2022. "Giant ferroelectric polarization in a bilayer graphene heterostructure," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    11. Swarup Deb & Johannes Krause & Paulo E. Faria Junior & Michael Andreas Kempf & Rico Schwartz & Kenji Watanabe & Takashi Taniguchi & Jaroslav Fabian & Tobias Korn, 2024. "Excitonic signatures of ferroelectric order in parallel-stacked MoS2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.

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