Emerging Optoelectronic Applications of Sliding Ferroelectricity

Sliding ferroelectricity, a novel type of ferroelectricity, is discovered in some van der Waals materials, where polarization switching can be achieved through in-plane interlayer sliding. The ferroelectric polarization involves atomic in-plane displacements during the polarization switching process, which makes sliding ferroelectric materials advantageous in terms of high switching speed, low polarization barriers, and high fatigue resistance in contrast to conventional bulk ferroelectric materials. The specific interlayer sliding mechanism creates an opportunity for exploring numerous practical applications such as high-speed storage, photovoltaic effect, and neuromorphic computing. In this review, the recently emerging applications are aimed to summarize and prospect the future developing tendency of sliding ferroelectric materials. First, the sliding mechanisms and typical characterization methods of the sliding ferroelectric materials are briefly introduced. Second, the recent progress in exploring sliding ferroelectric materials are summarized including ferroelectric field-effect transistors, ferroelectric tunneling junction, memristor, multi-bit storage, ferroelectric superconductivity, photovoltaic random-access memory, ultra-fast optical response, bulk photovoltaic effect. Finally, an outlook on the potential applications of sliding ferroelectric materials are provided and offer insight into the current challenges for further development of advanced optoelectronic devices based on sliding ferroelectricity.