Phase transition enhanced superior elasticity in freestanding single-crystalline multiferroic BiFeO 3 membranes

• Published in: Science advances Vol. 6; no. 34
• Main Authors: Peng, Bin, Peng, Ren-Ci, Zhang, Yong-Qiang, Dong, Guohua, Zhou, Ziyao, Zhou, Yuqing, Li, Tao, Liu, Zhijie, Luo, Zhenlin, Wang, Shaohao, Xia, Yan, Qiu, Ruibin, Cheng, Xiaoxing, Xue, Fei, Hu, Zhongqiang, Ren, Wei, Ye, Zuo-Guang, Chen, Long-Qing, Shan, Zhiwei, Min, Tai, Liu, Ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 21.08.2020
• ISSN: 2375-2548; 2375-2548
• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba5847

Phase transition could enhance superior elasticity and flexibility in freestanding single-crystalline multiferroic oxide membranes. The integration of ferroic oxide thin films into advanced flexible electronics will bring multifunctionality beyond organic and metallic materials. However, it is challenging to achieve high flexibility in single-crystalline ferroic oxides that is considerable to organic or metallic materials. Here, we demonstrate the superior flexibility of freestanding single-crystalline BiFeO 3 membranes, which are typical multiferroic materials with multifunctionality. They can endure cyclic 180° folding and have good recoverability, with the maximum bending strain up to 5.42% during in situ bending under scanning electron microscopy, far beyond their bulk counterparts. Such superior elasticity mainly originates from reversible rhombohedral-tetragonal phase transition, as revealed by phase-field simulations. This study suggests a general fundamental mechanism for a variety of ferroic oxides to achieve high flexibility and to work as smart materials in flexible electronics.