Charge-polarized interfacial superlattices in marginally twisted hexagonal boron nitride

Abstract

When two-dimensional crystals are brought into close proximity, their interaction results in strong reconstruction of electronic spectrum and local crystal structure. Such reconstruction strongly depends on the twist angle between the two crystals and has received growing attention due to new interesting electronic and optical properties that arise in graphene and transitional metal dichalcogenides. Similarly, novel and potentially useful properties are expected to appear in insulating crystals. Here we study two insulating crystals of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) stacked at a small twist angle. Using electrostatic force microscopy, we observe ferroelectric-like domains arranged in triangular superlattices with a large surface potential that is independent on the size and orientation of the domains as well as the thickness of the twisted hBN crystals. The observation is attributed to interfacial elastic deformations that result in domains with a large density of out-of-plane polarized dipoles formed by pairs of boron and nitrogen atoms belonging to the opposite interfacial surfaces. This effectively creates a bilayer-thick ferroelectric with oppositely polarized (BN and NB) dipoles in neighbouring domains, in agreement with our modelling. The demonstrated electrostatic domains and their superlattices offer many new possibilities in designing novel van der Waals heterostructures.

References in corpus (17)

• Boron nitride substrates for high-quality graphene electronics
• Observation of Long-Lived Interlayer Excitons in Monolayer MoSe2-WSe2 Heterostructures
• Emergence of Superlattice Dirac Points in Graphene on Hexagonal Boron Nitride
• Hunting for Monolayer Boron Nitride: Optical and Raman Signatures
• Veselago Lens for Electrons: Focusing and Caustics in Graphene p-n Junctions
• Cross-sectional imaging of individual layers and buried interfaces of graphene-based heterostructures and superlattices
• Flat Bands in Slightly Twisted Bilayer Graphene
• Recent progress in the assembly of nanodevices and van der Waals heterostructures by deterministic placement of 2D materials
• Twist-controlled resonant tunnelling in graphene-boron nitride-graphene heterostructures
• Stability of boron nitride bilayers: Ground state energies, interlayer distances, and tight-binding description
• Continuum models for twisted bilayer graphene: the effects of lattice deformation and hopping parameter
• High-temperature quantum oscillations caused by recurring Bloch states in graphene superlattices
• Composite super-moiré lattices in double aligned graphene heterostructures
• Electrostatically confined monolayer graphene quantum dots with orbital and valley splittings
• Flat bands, strains, and charge distribution in twisted-bilayer hBN
• Moire pattern as a magnifying glass for strain and dislocations in van der Waals heterostructures
• High resolution imaging of reconstructed domains and moire patterns in functional van der Waals heterostructure devices

Cited by in corpus (87)

• Stacking-engineered ferroelectricity in bilayer boron nitride
• Interfacial Ferroelectricity by van-der-Waals Sliding
• Interfacial ferroelectricity in rhombohedral-stacked bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides
• Interfacial ferroelectricity in marginally twisted 2D semiconductors
• Sliding induced multiple polarization states in two-dimensional ferroelectrics
• Cumulative Polarization Coexisting with Conductivity at Interfacial Ferroelectrics
• General Theory for Bilayer Stacking Ferroelectricity
• A 2D ferroelectric vortex lattice in twisted BaTiO3 freestanding layers
• Spontaneous Polarization Induced Photovoltaic Effect In Rhombohedrally Stacked MoS${}_2$
• Atypical sliding and Moire ferroelectricity in pure multilayer graphene
• A Microscopic Perspective on Moiré Materials
• Excitons in mesoscopically reconstructed moiré heterostructures
• Direct measurement of ferroelectric polarization in a tunable semimetal
• Polarization-driven band topology evolution in twisted MoTe${}_2$ and WSe${}_2$
• Polar meron-antimeron networks in strained and twisted bilayers
• MoSi${}_2$N${}_4$-like crystals -- the new family of two-dimensional materials
• Interlayer Sliding-Induced Intralayer Ferroelectric Switching in Bilayer Group-IV Monochalcogenides
• Universal superlattice potential for 2D materials from twisted interface inside h-BN substrate
• Unraveling intrinsic flexoelectricity in twisted double bilayer graphene
• Multifaceted moiré superlattice physics in twisted WSe${}_2$ bilayers
• Visualizing moiré ferroelectricity via plasmons and nano-photocurrent in graphene/twisted-WSe2 structures
• Flat bands, strains, and charge distribution in twisted-bilayer hBN
• Weak ferroelectric charge transfer in layer-asymmetric bilayers of 2D semiconductors
• Strain induced quasi-unidimensional channels in twisted moiré lattices
• Parent Berry curvature and the ideal anomalous Hall crystal
• A scalable network model for electrically tunable ferroelectric domain structure in twistronic bilayers of two-dimensional semiconductors
• Designing Moiré Patterns by Strain
• Band energy landscapes in twisted homobilayers of transition metal dichalcogenides
• Every-other-layer Dipolar Excitons in a Spin-Valley locked Superlattice
• Band structure engineering using a moiré polar substrate
• Stacking-dependent exciton multiplicity in WSe${}_2$ bilayers
• Theory of polar domains in moiré heterostructures
• Chiral Pseudo Spin Liquids in Moire Heterostructures
• Unveiling the origin of unconventional moire ferroelectricity
• Electronic properties of twisted bilayer graphene suspended and encapsulated with hexagonal boron nitride
• Excitonic signatures of ferroelectric order in parallel-stacked MoS${}_2$
• Polarization Saturation in Multi-layered Interfacial Ferroelectrics
• Topological origin of flat-bands as pseudo-Landau levels in uniaxial strained graphene nanoribbons and induced magnetic ordering due to electron-electron interactions
• Engineering band structures of two-dimensional materials with remote moire ferroelectricity
• Hidden orders and (anti-)Magnetoelectric Effects in Cr${}_2$O${}_3$ and $\alpha$-Fe${}_2$O${}_3$
• Tunable Strong Magnetic Anisotropy in Two-Dimensional van der Waals Antiferromagnets
• Tunable ferroelectricity in hBN intercalated twisted double-layer graphene
• Designing topology and fractionalization in narrow gap semiconductor films via electrostatic engineering
• Distinct moiré textures of in-plane electric polarizations for distinguishing moiré origins in homobilayers
• Engineering Three Dimensional Moiré Flat Bands
• Confined Trions and Mott-Wigner States in a Purely Electrostatic Moiré Potential
• Slippery paraelectric transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers
• Non-linear optics at twist interfaces in h-BN/SiC heterostructures
• Twisted-bilayer FeSe and the Fe-based superlattices
• Creating a three dimensional intrinsic electric dipole on rotated CrI${}_3$ bilayers
• Local Fluctuations in Cavity Control of Ferroelectricity
• Highly tunable moiré superlattice potentials in twisted hexagonal boron nitrides
• Josephson effects in twisted nodal superconductors
• Scaleability of dielectric susceptibility ${\epsilon }_{zz}$ with the number of layers and additivity of ferroelectric polarization in van der Waals semiconductors
• Interlayer electric multipoles induced by in-plane field from quantum geometric origins
• Transport evidence of superlattice Dirac cones in graphene monolayer on twisted boron nitride substrate
• General Electronic Structure Calculation Method for Twisted Systems
• Magnetic Bloch States at Integer Flux Quanta Induced by Super-moiré Potential in Graphene Aligned with Twisted Boron Nitride
• Intrinsic Dipole Hall effect in twisted MoTe${}_2$: magnetoelectricity and contact-free signatures of topological transitions
• Ferroelectricity in twisted double bilayer graphene
• Dislocations in twistronic heterostructures
• Plasmonic polarization sensing of electrostatic superlattice potentials
• Anomalous properties of spark plasma sintered boron nitride solids
• Ferroelectric response to interlayer shifting and rotations in trilayer hexagonal Boron Nitride
• Optical detection of the sliding ferroelectric switching in hBN with a WSe2 monolayer
• Designing Moire Patterns by Shearing
• Sliding ferroelectricity in a bulk misfit layer compound (PbS)${}_{1.18}$VS${}_2$
• Giant piezoelectricity in group IV monochalcogenides with ferroelectric AA layer stacking
• Moiré flat bands and antiferroelectric domains in lattice relaxed twisted bilayer hexagonal boron nitride under perpendicular electric fields
• Twistronics and moiré superlattice physics in 2D transition metal dichalcogenides
• Imaging supermoiré relaxation in helical trilayer graphene
• Landau-level spectrum and the effect of spin-orbit coupling in monolayer graphene on transition metal dichalcogenides
• Tuning color centers at a twisted interface
• Strong atomic reconstruction in twisted bilayers of highly flexible InSe: Machine-Learned Interatomic Potential and continuum model approaches
• Nanorobotic actuator based on interlayer sliding ferroelectricity and field-tunable friction
• Long wavelength interdomain phonons and instability of dislocations in small-angle twisted bilayers
• Insulating moiré homobilayers lack a threefold symmetric second harmonic generation
• Review of the tight-binding method applicable to the properties of moiré superlattices
• Giant Shear Displacement by Light-Induced Raman Force in Bilayer Graphene
• Interlayer couplings in homobilayer structures of MSi2X4 (M = Mo/W, X = N/P/As)
• Magnetism and Interlayer Bonding in Pores of Bernal-Stacked Hexagonal Boron Nitride
• Moiré spintronics: Emergent phenomena, material realization and machine learning accelerating discovery
• Ferroelectric switching of interfacial dipoles in $\alpha$-RuCl${}_3$/graphene heterostructure
• Ferroelectric hysteresis in singly aligned graphene-hBN moiré superlattices
• Localization and topological signatures under periodic twisting
• Light-induced shear phonon splitting and instability in bilayer graphene
• Large symmetry and hierarchical ordering transitions in sliding ferroelectrics