Exploitation of mixed-valency chemistry for designing a monolayer with double ferroelectricity and triferroic couplings

Abstract

Mixed-valence compounds possess both intriguing chemical and physical properties such as the intervalence charge transfer band and thus have been excellent model systems for the investigation of fundamental electron- and charge-transfer phenomena. Herein, we show that valence stratification can be a source of symmetry breaking and generating ferroelectricity in two-dimensional (2D) materials. We present ab initio computation evidence of the monolayer Cu₂Cl₃ structure with Cu ions being stratified into two separated layers of Cu(I) and Cu(II). Chemically, this unique monolayer not only entails lower formation energy than the bulk CuCl + CuCl₂, but also enables the swapping of two valences through vertical ferroelectric switching, leading to a hitherto unreported chemical valencing phenomenon. Notably, the Jahn–Teller distortion of the Cu(II) layer results in another source of symmetry breaking and thus in-plane ferroelectricity. Apart from the valence swapping and self-contained double ferroelectricity, the monolayer's ferroelasticity is also coupled with in-plane ferroelectricity, while the monolayer's ferromagnetism is coupled with vertical polarization owing to the distinct magnetization of each Cu(I) and Cu(II) layer, thereby evoking the long-sought 2D triferroicity as well as triferroic couplings.