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Updated: Oct 21, 2026
Writing and Low-Temperature Characterization of Oxide Nanostructures
Published on: July 18, 2014
Atomic-scale characterization of oxide thin films gated by ionic liquid
Andrew C Lang1, Jennifer D Sloppy, Hessam Ghassemi
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States.
Abstract:
Ionic liquids (ILs) have received considerable interest for use in electrostatic gating in complex oxide systems. Understanding the ionic liquid/oxide interface, and any bias-induced electrochemical degradation, is critical for the interpretation of transport phenomena. The integrity of the interface between ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate and La1/3Sr2/3FeO3 under various biasing conditions was examined by analytical transmission electron microscopy, and we report film degradation in the form of an irreversible chemical reaction regardless of the applied bias. This results in an intermixing region of 4-6 nm at the IL/oxide interface. Electron energy loss spectroscopy shows La and Fe migration into the ionic liquid, resulting in secondary phase formation under negative bias. Our approach can be extended to other ionic liquid/oxide systems in order to better understand the electrochemical stability window of these device structures.
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