One-dimensional ferroelectric monodomain formation in single crystalline BaTiO3 nanowire

The authors report the existence of one-dimensional and stable formation of ferroelectric monodomain in single crystalline BaTiO3 nanowire. Piezoresponse force microscopy operated in both vertical and lateral modes showed ferroelectric polarization switching along the axial (lateral) direction of nanowire, while the polarization along the transversal (vertical) direction was strongly suppressed. Such a one-dimensional polarization formation was also found to be highly stable and nonretentive in that switched polarization spontaneously returned to its original orientation at the instant of removing the applied poling voltage. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.