R&D: Multiferroic and Ferroelectric Phases Revealed in 2D Ti3C2Tx MXene Film for High Performance Resistive Storage Devices

npj 2D Materials and Applications has published an article written by Rabia Tahir, Sabeen Fatima, Syedah Afsheen Zahra, Physics Characterization and Simulations Lab (PCSL), Department of Physics, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), H-12, Islamabad, Pakistan, Deji Akinwande, Microelectronics Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78758, USA, Hu Li, Shandong Technology Centre of Nanodevices and Integration, School of Microelectronics, Shandong University, Jinan, 250101, China, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Uppsala University, 75121, Uppsala, Sweden, Syed Hassan Mujtaba Jafri, Department of Electrical Engineering, Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST), Mirpur, 10250, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, and Syed Rizwan, Physics Characterization and Simulations Lab (PCSL), Department of Physics, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), H-12, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Abstract: “Multiferroic materials, showing simultaneous ferroelectric and ferromagnetic orders, are considered to be promising candidates for future data storage technology however, the multiferroic phenomenon in two-dimensional (2D) materials is rarely observed. We report a simple approach to observe frequency-dependent ferroelectricity and multiferroicity in 2D Ti₃C₂T_x MXene film at room-temperature. To study the frequency and poling effect on ferroelectricity, we performed electric polarization vs. electric field (P-E) measurement at different frequencies, measured under zero and non-zero static magnetic fields. The results not only indicate a clear frequency dependence of electric domains owing to varying time relaxation during reversal dynamic but also showed magnetic field control of electric polarization thus, confirmed the presence of strong magneto-electric (ME) coupling at room-temperature. The existence of ME coupling was attributed to the coupling between disordered electric dipoles with local spin moments as well reduced dielectric loss after heat-treatment. Moreover, the ferroelectric Ti₃C₂T_x MXene film was employed as an active layer within the resistive data storage device that showed a stable switching behavior along with improved on/off ratio in comparison to non-ferroelectric Ti₃C₂T_x active layer. The unique multiferroic behavior along with ferroelectric-tuned data storage devices reported here, will help understand the intrinsic nature of 2D materials and will advance the 2D ferroelectric data storage industry.“