Field-effect modulation of structure and conductivity of LaNiO3 thin films

There is a lot of interest in materials that change their electronic transport properties in response to applied electric field. These materials can be used in technological applications, such as non-volatile field-effect transistors. As devices become smaller, the nanoscale properties of materials at surfaces and interfaces become more important. The interfaces between thin oxide films and ferroelectric materials are of special interest because they allow modulation of oxide film properties by switching the polar state of the ferroelectric. In our work, we use first-principles methods to study the properties of the interface between two perovskite oxide materials: metallic thin film LaNiO3 and ferroelectric PbTiO3. We analyze the effects of switching the polar state of PbTiO3 on the atomic structure of LaNiO3 at the interface, as well as on the electronic structure and conductivity of the interface.