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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.23831 |
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| _version_ | 1866908668798173184 |
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| author | Savovici, Adrian Ratzker, Barak Zhou, Xuyang Zaefferer, Stefan Ruffino, Martina Radulov, Iliya Jovičević-Klug, Patricia Katnagallu, Shyam Hamzehei, Amir Watermeyer, Philipp Vogel, Alexandra Neugebauer, Jörg Jovičević-Klug, Matic Freysoldt, Christoph Raabe, Dierk |
| author_facet | Savovici, Adrian Ratzker, Barak Zhou, Xuyang Zaefferer, Stefan Ruffino, Martina Radulov, Iliya Jovičević-Klug, Patricia Katnagallu, Shyam Hamzehei, Amir Watermeyer, Philipp Vogel, Alexandra Neugebauer, Jörg Jovičević-Klug, Matic Freysoldt, Christoph Raabe, Dierk |
| contents | Polar metals are an underexplored material class combining two properties that are typically incompatible, namely a polar crystal structure and reasonable electrical conductivity. These intriguing materials offer a unique combination of properties, potentially relevant to optoelectronics, catalysis, memory devices, among other applications. The distortive polar metal (DPM) subclass forms through a symmetry-lifting phase transformation into a non-centrosymmetric polar crystal structure. In the process, domains with uniform geometric polar directions form, oftentimes separated by domain boundaries with polarity discontinuities arranged in "charged" head-to-head (H-H) or tail-to-tail (T-T) morphologies. To date, only metallic oxide DPM microstructures have been studied. Here we reveal, in the intermetallic DPM Mn$_{5}$Al$_{8}$, different surface interactions and electron transfer reactivity at domain boundaries depending on their H-H or T-T character. Variable surface reactivity suggests localized changes in electronic work functions due to an increase (H-H) or decrease (T-T) in the electronic density of states. These findings suggest that metallic DPMs may offer functionalizable domain boundaries and deserve increased attention, given that they allow tunable chemistries and various thermomechanical processing or transformation protocols. Ultimately, this study proposes unconventional metal physics, propelling the discovery and design of advanced electronic materials and devices. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_23831 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Domain Boundaries in a Metallic Distortive Polar Metal Savovici, Adrian Ratzker, Barak Zhou, Xuyang Zaefferer, Stefan Ruffino, Martina Radulov, Iliya Jovičević-Klug, Patricia Katnagallu, Shyam Hamzehei, Amir Watermeyer, Philipp Vogel, Alexandra Neugebauer, Jörg Jovičević-Klug, Matic Freysoldt, Christoph Raabe, Dierk Materials Science Polar metals are an underexplored material class combining two properties that are typically incompatible, namely a polar crystal structure and reasonable electrical conductivity. These intriguing materials offer a unique combination of properties, potentially relevant to optoelectronics, catalysis, memory devices, among other applications. The distortive polar metal (DPM) subclass forms through a symmetry-lifting phase transformation into a non-centrosymmetric polar crystal structure. In the process, domains with uniform geometric polar directions form, oftentimes separated by domain boundaries with polarity discontinuities arranged in "charged" head-to-head (H-H) or tail-to-tail (T-T) morphologies. To date, only metallic oxide DPM microstructures have been studied. Here we reveal, in the intermetallic DPM Mn$_{5}$Al$_{8}$, different surface interactions and electron transfer reactivity at domain boundaries depending on their H-H or T-T character. Variable surface reactivity suggests localized changes in electronic work functions due to an increase (H-H) or decrease (T-T) in the electronic density of states. These findings suggest that metallic DPMs may offer functionalizable domain boundaries and deserve increased attention, given that they allow tunable chemistries and various thermomechanical processing or transformation protocols. Ultimately, this study proposes unconventional metal physics, propelling the discovery and design of advanced electronic materials and devices. |
| title | Domain Boundaries in a Metallic Distortive Polar Metal |
| topic | Materials Science |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.23831 |