Author:
Kotiuga Michele,Zhang Zhen,Li Jiarui,Rodolakis Fanny,Zhou Hua,Sutarto Ronny,He Feizhou,Wang Qi,Sun Yifei,Wang Ying,Aghamiri Neda Alsadat,Hancock Steven Bennett,Rokhinson Leonid P.,Landau David P.,Abate Yohannes,Freeland John W.,Comin Riccardo,Ramanathan Shriram,Rabe Karin M.
Abstract
Point defects, such as oxygen vacancies, control the physical properties of complex oxides, relevant in active areas of research from superconductivity to resistive memory to catalysis. In most oxide semiconductors, electrons that are associated with oxygen vacancies occupy the conduction band, leading to an increase in the electrical conductivity. Here we demonstrate, in contrast, that in the correlated-electron perovskite rare-earth nickelates, RNiO3 (R is a rare-earth element such as Sm or Nd), electrons associated with oxygen vacancies strongly localize, leading to a dramatic decrease in the electrical conductivity by several orders of magnitude. This unusual behavior is found to stem from the combination of crystal field splitting and filling-controlled Mott–Hubbard electron–electron correlations in the Ni 3d orbitals. Furthermore, we show the distribution of oxygen vacancies in NdNiO3 can be controlled via an electric field, leading to analog resistance switching behavior. This study demonstrates the potential of nickelates as testbeds to better understand emergent physics in oxide heterostructures as well as candidate systems in the emerging fields of artificial intelligence.
Funder
DOD | United States Navy | Office of Naval Research
DOD | USAF | AFMC | Air Force Office of Scientific Research
National Science Foundation
DOD | United States Army | RDECOM | Army Research Office
U.S. Department of Energy
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Cited by
70 articles.
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