Work

How to cleave cubic perovskite oxides

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Surfaces of cubic perovskite oxides attract significant attention for their physical tunability and high potential for technical applications. Bulk-terminated surfaces are desirable for theoretical modeling and experimental reproducibility, yet there is a lack of methods for preparing such well-defined surfaces. We discuss a method for strain-assisted cleaving of perovskite single crystals, using a setup easily transferable between different experimental systems. The details of the cleaving device and the procedure were optimized in a systematic study on the model cubic perovskite oxide SrTiO3. The large-area morphology and typical distribution of surface terminations on cleaved SrTiO3(001) are presented, with specific guidelines on how to distinguish well-cleaved surfaces from conchoidally fractured ones. The cleaving is applicable to other cubic perovskites, as demonstrated on KTaO3(001) and BaTiO3(001). This approach opens up a pathway for obtaining high-quality surfaces of this promising class of materials.

Source: Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI: 10.1063/5.0233747

Authors: Igor Sokolović, Michael Schmid, Ulrike Diebold, Martin Setvín

Institutions: TU Wien, Charles University

Language: English

Topic: Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides

Subfield: Materials Chemistry

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: Grantová Agentura České Republiky, Austrian Science Fund

Awards: G2189336205, G2286773763, Surface science of bulk-terminated cubic perovskite oxides