Redesigning Metals at the Atomic Level to Boost Future Technology

Researchers in the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have discovered a powerful new way to control the electronic behavior of a metal-by manipulating the atomic properties of materials where they meet.

The study, published in Nature Communications, demonstrates that interfacial polarization can tune the surface work function of metallic ruthenium dioxide (RuO₂) by more than 1 electron volt (eV)-a tiny amount of energy-simply by adjusting film thickness at the nanometer scale.

“We often think of polarization as something that belongs to insulators or ferroelectrics-not metals,” said Bharat Jalan, professor and Shell Chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. “Our work shows that, through careful interface design, you can stabilize polarization in a metallic system and use it as a knob to tune electronic properties. This opens an entirely new way of thinking about controlling metals.”

This specific change is most powerful when the metal layer is about 4 nanometers thick-roughly the width of a single strand of DNA. At this precise size, the metal shifts from being "stretched" by the material underneath it to a more "relaxed" state. This transition proves that the physical way atoms are packed together has a direct, measurable impact on how the metal handles electricity.

“This was surprising,” said Seung Gyo Jeong, first author of the study and a researcher in Jalan’s group. “We expected subtle interface effects, but not such a large and controllable change in work function. Being able to visualize the polar displacements at the atomic scale and connect them directly to electronic measurements was especially exciting.”

Beyond fundamental physics, the findings could impact the design of next-generation electronic, catalytic and quantum devices. 

In addition to Jalan and Low, the research team included members from Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, Gwangyu Institute of Science and Technology and the School of Physics at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.