J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2026, Vol. 269: 160-172.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2025.07.076

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Tailored strain-octahedral-defect interplay for giant multiferroicity in BiFeO3 via scandium implantation

Yongshen Lua,b, Wen Zhanga,b, Ziheng Chena,b, Fangwang Fua,b, Jinyong Zhangb, Lin Renb, Weimin Wangb, Fan Zhanga,b,*, Zhengyi Fua,b,*   

  1. aHubei Longzhong Laboratory, Wuhan University of Technology Xiangyang Demonstration Zone, Xiangyang 44100, China;
    bState Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
  • Received:2025-05-03 Revised:2025-07-25 Accepted:2025-07-25 Published:2026-10-20 Online:2025-09-27
  • Contact: *E-mail addresses: zhfan@whut.edu.cn (F. Zhang), zyfu@whut.edu.cn (Z. Fu)

Abstract: The escalating demand for high-performance nonvolatile memories, driven by the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence hardware, highlights the urgent need for breakthroughs in multiferroic thin-film engineering. While environmentally benign bismuth ferrite (BFO) thin films exhibit intrinsic ferroelectric-ferromagnetic duality, their performance suffers considerable degradation because of dimensional scaling effects and stochastic percolation of oxygen vacancies ($V_{0}^{\bullet \bullet}$). Herein, we introduce a quantum-engineered implantation strategy utilizing scandium ions (Sc3+) as metastable interstitial dopants to systematically establish self-adaptive lattice-oxygen vacancy equilibria through quantum-confined interactions. Atomic-resolution electron microscopy and multiferroicity scaling behavior analysis reveal that precise Sc3+ implantation (dose: 1015 ions cm-2) induces a quantum-confined strain field and vacancy dipole ordering, synergistically enhancing ferroelectric polarization to 158.6 µC/cm2 while suppressing leakage currents to 10-8 A/cm². Concurrently, strain-mediated magnetoelectric coupling elevates saturation magnetization to 0.82 emu/cm3 via the modulation of the spin-lattice interaction, accompanied by electronic structure reconfiguration (bandgap narrowing ΔEg=2.09 eV). Crucially, Sc3+-$V_{0}^{\bullet \bullet}$ pairs exhibit policy network-like characteristics, wherein each dopant autonomously optimizes local multiferroic responses through strain-oxygen chemical potential feedback loops. This study provides a Materials Genome blueprint for the design of multiferroic systems, bridging the gap between quantum-scale manipulation and device-level operational stability in oxide electronics.

Key words: BiFeO3, Atomic resolution, Ferroelectric property, Ion implantation, Strain-octahedral-defect