Multiferroic Metal–PbNb_0.12Ti_0.88O_3−δ Films on Nb-Doped STO

Ferroelectricity—the switchable intrinsic electric polarization—has not yet been attained in a metal experimentally and is in fact generally deemed irreconcilable with free carriers, although polar metal has been achieved recently. Multiferroic metal has never even been proposed though multiferroics have been widely investigated. Here we report a room-temperature coexistence of multiferroicity and metallic behavior in PbNb 0.12 Ti 0.88 O 3−δ films. The oxygen-vacancy-induced electrons become delocalized and ameliorate the ferromagnetic properties of these films, whereas they fail to vanish the polar displacements nor the individual dipole in each unit cell. This concurrent appearance of multiferroicity and metallicity is also confirmed by our first-principles calculation performed on 12.5% Nb-doped PbTiO 3 with oxygen vacancies. These findings break a path to multiferroic metallic materials and offer a potential application for multiferroic spintronic devices.