About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Late News Poster Session
|
| Presentation Title |
G-35: Unusual Behavior at Domain Boundaries in a Metallic Distortive Polar Metal |
| Author(s) |
Barak Ratzker, Adrian Savovici, Xuyang Zhou, Stefan Zaefferer, Martina Ruffino, Amir Hamzehei, Phillipp Watermeyer, Christoph Freysoldt, Dierk Raabe |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Barak Ratzker |
| Abstract Scope |
Polar metals are a nascent material class combining non-centrosymmetric polar crystal structure with reasonable electrical conductivity. The distortive polar metal (DPM) subclass forms through a centrosymmetry-lifting phase transformation into a polar structure. In the process, geometric polar domains form – oftentimes separated by domain boundaries with polarity discontinuities arranged in "charged" head-to-head (H-H) or tail-to-tail (T-T) morphologies. Here, we investigated Mn5Al8 – an intermetallic DPM that undergoes a displacive transformation from cubic (I-43m) to rhombohedral (R3m), exhibiting twinned microstructures comprising four crystallographic variants. Herringbone domain morphologies were characterized by advanced electron microscopy and observation of preferential copper deposition or lack thereof along H-H and T-T boundaries, respectively. Variable surface reactivity implies that electronic work functions are modulated at domain boundaries due to an increase (H-H) or decrease (T-T) in the electronic density of states. Such behavior is unintuitive in a metal, suggesting that metallic DPMs may offer unexpected functional properties. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Undecided |
| Keywords |
Characterization, Electronic Materials, Other |