Room-Temperature Ferroelectricity in 2D Metal–Tellurium–Oxyhalide Cd7Te7Cl8O17 via Selenium-Induced Selective-Bonding Growth

Two-dimensional (2D) ferroelectric materials have attracted increasing interest due to meeting the requirements of integration, miniaturization, and multifunction of devices. However, the exploration of intrinsic 2D ferroelectric materials is still in the early stage, for which the related reports are still limited, especially fewer ones prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Here, the ultrathin metal-tellurium-oxyhalide Cd₇Te₇Cl₈O₁₇ (CTCO) flakes as thin as 3.8 nm are realized via the selenium-induced selective-bonding CVD method. The growth mechanism has been confirmed by experiments and theoretical calculations, which can be ascribed to the induction of selective bonding of a hydrogen atom in H₂O molecules by the introduction of selenium, leading to the generation of strong oxidants. Excitingly, switchable out-of-plane ferroelectric polarization was observed in CTCO flakes down to 6 nm at room temperature, which may be caused by mobile Cl vacancies. This work has implications for the synthesis and applications of 2D ferroelectric materials.