Yun Seok Kim

We demonstrate a room temperature semiconductor-metal transition in thin film MoTe2 engineered by strain. Reduction of the 2H-1T' phase transition temperature of MoTe2 to room temperature was realized by introducing a tensile strain of 0.2%. The observed first-order SM transition improved conductance ∼10 000 times and was made possible by an unusually large temperature-stress coefficient, which results from a large volume change and small latent heat. The demonstrated strain-modulation of the ph

Continuous advancement in nonvolatile and morphotropic beyond-Moore electronic devices requires integration of ferroelectric and semiconductor materials. The emergence of hafnium oxide (HfO 2 )–based ferroelectrics that are compatible with atomic-layer deposition has opened interesting and promising avenues of research. However, the origins of ferroelectricity and pathways to controlling it in HfO 2 are still mysterious. We demonstrate that local helium (He) implantation can activate ferroelectr

For over 70 years, ferroelectric materials have been one of the central research topics for condensed matter physics and material science, an interest driven both by fundamental science and applications. However, ferroelectric surfaces, the key component of ferroelectric films and nanostructures, still present a significant theoretical and even conceptual challenge. Indeed, stability of ferroelectric phase per se necessitates screening of polarization charge. At surfaces, this can lead to coupli

We investigated the surface potential of the ferroelectric domains of the epitaxial PbTiO3 (PTO) films using both Kelvin probe and piezoresponse force microscopy. The surface potential changes as a function of applied biases suggested that the amount and sign of surface potentials depend on the correlation between polarization and screen charges. It also suggested that the trapped negative charges exist on the as-deposited PTO surfaces. Injected charges and their resultant surface potentials are

Both enhancing the excitons' lifetime and ingeniously controlling the spatial charge transfer are the key to the realization of efficiently photocatalytic and artificially photosynthetic devices. Nanostructured metal/metal-oxide interfaces often exhibit improved energy conversion efficiency. Understanding the surface potential changes of nano-objects under light illumination is crucial in photoelectrochemical cells. Under ultraviolet (UV) illumination, here, we directly observed the charge separ

Reduced WO3 single crystals have been investigated by conductive and piezoresponse force microscopy. The reduced crystals show a piezoelectric active surface layer with a noncentrosymmetric tetragonal structure which is different from the bulk of the crystal. The domain walls carry a high current while the bulk remains insulating. Twin-related interfaces are atomically thin, the upper bound being less than 10 nm. The reduced surface layer remained in the piezoelectric state even after several we

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells are attracting the attention of researchers owing to the high level of performance they exhibit in photovoltaic device applications. However, the attainment of an even higher level of performance is hindered by their anomalous current–voltage ( I – V ) hysteresis behavior. Even though experimental and theoretical studies have suggested that the perovskite materials may have a ferroelectric nature, it is still far from being fully understood. In thi

Next‐generation memory and energy harvesting devices require a higher output performance for charging lectric devices. Generally, it is very limited to control charge transfer through triboelectricity in triboelectric materials. Here, using ferroelectric polarization, it is found that both the amount and direction of charge transfer in triboelectric materials can be controlled. The ferroelectric‐dependent triboelectricity in a ferroelectric co‐polymer film is explored using atomic force microsco

Fully epitaxial BaTiO(3)/CoFe(2)O(4) ferroelectric/ferromagnetic multilayered nanodot arrays, a new type of magnetoelectric (ME) nanocomposite with both horizontal and vertical orderings, were fabricated via a stencil-derived direct epitaxy technique. By reducing the clamping effect, ferroelectric domain modification and distinct magnetization change proportional to different interfacial area around the BaTiO(3) phase transition temperatures were found, which may pave the way to quantitative int

Nanoscale electromechanical activity, remanent polarization states, and hysteresis loops in paraelectric TiO(2) and SrTiO(3) thin films are observed using scanning probe microscopy. The coupling between the ionic dynamics and incipient ferroelectricity in these materials is analyzed using extended Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire (LGD) theory. The possible origins of electromechanical coupling including ionic dynamics, surface-charge induced electrostriction, and ionically induced ferroelectricity are

We demonstrate an approach for probing nonlinear electromechanical responses in BiFeO(3) thin film nanocapacitors using half-harmonic band excitation piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM). Nonlinear PFM images of nanocapacitor arrays show clearly visible clusters of capacitors associated with variations of local leakage current through the BiFeO(3) film. Strain spectroscopy measurements and finite element modeling point to significance of the Joule heating and show that the thermal effects caused

Piezoelectric and ferroelectric materials have garnered significant interest owing to their excellent physical properties and multiple potential applications. Accordingly, the need for evaluating piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties has also increased. The piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties are evaluated macroscopically using laser interferometers and polarization-electric field loop measurements. However, as the research focus is shifted from bulk to nanosized materials, scanning

The adsorption energies of trimethyl-aluminum on 2D crystals are extracted by quantifying the surface coverage of Al₂O₃ grown by atomic layer deposition.