Ferroelectricity in twisted double bilayer graphene

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) ferroelectrics can maintain electrical polarization up to room temperature and are, therefore, promising for next-generation nonvolatile memories. Although natural 2D ferroelectrics are few, moiré superlattices provide us with a generalized method to construct ferroelectrics from non-ferroelectric parent materials. We report a realization of ferroelectric hysteresis in an AB-BA stacked twisted double bilayer graphene (TDBG) system. The ferroelectric polarization is prominent at zero external displacement field and reduces upon increasing displacement fields. TDBG in the AB-BA configuration is an intriguing system, which facilitates ferroelectricity even without the assistance of any boron nitride layers; however, in the AB-AB stacking case, the development of polarization necessitates the presence of a second superlattice induced by the adjacent boron nitride layer. Therefore, twisted multilayer graphene offers us a fascinating field to explore 2D ferroelectricity.