Beware of the water: Hidden hydrogenation of perovskite membranes made by the water-soluble sacrificial layer method

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Saeed, Umair, Sandiumenge, Felip, Cordero-Edwards, Kumara, Padilla-Pantoja, Jessica, Roque, José Manuel Caicedo, Pesquera, David, Santiso, José, Catalan, Gustau
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Saeed, Umair
Sandiumenge, Felip
Cordero-Edwards, Kumara
Padilla-Pantoja, Jessica
Roque, José Manuel Caicedo
Pesquera, David
Santiso, José
Catalan, Gustau
author_facet Saeed, Umair
Sandiumenge, Felip
Cordero-Edwards, Kumara
Padilla-Pantoja, Jessica
Roque, José Manuel Caicedo
Pesquera, David
Santiso, José
Catalan, Gustau
contents The fabrication of perovskite oxide free-standing films (membranes) by lift-off methods using water-soluble sacrificial layers is appealing because of the new mechanical degrees of freedom that these membranes present over conventional epitaxial films. However, little is known about how their fabrication process, and in particular the exposure to water during the etching step, affects their properties. Here, we investigate how membranes of two perovskite archetypes, antiferroelectric PbZrO3 and paraelectric SrTiO3, are affected by water-based etching step. Using Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, we find evidence that hydrogen penetrates the perovskite structure. Concomitant with this protonation, the functional properties also change, and both materials display ferroelectric-like behavior that is absent in bulk ceramics or hydrogen-free films at room temperature. We also find that thermal annealing can be used to expel the hydrogen from the membranes, which henceforth recover bulk-like properties. The two main conclusions of this work are that (i) any perovskite membrane made by sacrificial layer hydrolysis is vulnerable to hydrogen penetration (protonation) that can induce important but extrinsic changes in functional properties, and (ii) the hydrogen can, and should, be expelled by annealing to recover intrinsic behaviour.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_04197
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Beware of the water: Hidden hydrogenation of perovskite membranes made by the water-soluble sacrificial layer method
Saeed, Umair
Sandiumenge, Felip
Cordero-Edwards, Kumara
Padilla-Pantoja, Jessica
Roque, José Manuel Caicedo
Pesquera, David
Santiso, José
Catalan, Gustau
Materials Science
Applied Physics
The fabrication of perovskite oxide free-standing films (membranes) by lift-off methods using water-soluble sacrificial layers is appealing because of the new mechanical degrees of freedom that these membranes present over conventional epitaxial films. However, little is known about how their fabrication process, and in particular the exposure to water during the etching step, affects their properties. Here, we investigate how membranes of two perovskite archetypes, antiferroelectric PbZrO3 and paraelectric SrTiO3, are affected by water-based etching step. Using Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, we find evidence that hydrogen penetrates the perovskite structure. Concomitant with this protonation, the functional properties also change, and both materials display ferroelectric-like behavior that is absent in bulk ceramics or hydrogen-free films at room temperature. We also find that thermal annealing can be used to expel the hydrogen from the membranes, which henceforth recover bulk-like properties. The two main conclusions of this work are that (i) any perovskite membrane made by sacrificial layer hydrolysis is vulnerable to hydrogen penetration (protonation) that can induce important but extrinsic changes in functional properties, and (ii) the hydrogen can, and should, be expelled by annealing to recover intrinsic behaviour.
title Beware of the water: Hidden hydrogenation of perovskite membranes made by the water-soluble sacrificial layer method
topic Materials Science
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.04197