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Abstract 2D ferroelectric material has emerged as an attractive building block for high‐density data storage nanodevices. Although monolayer van der Waals ferroelectrics have been theoretically predicted, a key experimental breakthrough for such calculations is still not realized. Here, hexagonally stacking α‐In 2 Se 3 nanoflake, a rarely studied van der Waals polymorph, is reported to exhibit out‐of‐plane (OOP) and in‐plane (IP) ferroelectricity at room temperature. Ferroelectric multidomain states in a hexagonal α‐In 2 Se 3 nanoflake with uniform thickness can survive to 6 nm. Most strikingly, the electric‐field‐induced polarization switching and hysteresis loop are, respectively, observed down to the bilayer and monolayer (≈1.2 nm) thicknesses, which designates it as the thinnest layered ferroelectric and verifies the corresponding theoretical calculation. In addition, two types of ferroelectric nanodevices employing the OOP and IP polarizations in 2H α‐In 2 Se 3 are developed, which are applicable for nonvolatile memories and heterostructure‐based nanoelectronics/optoelectronics.
Xue et al. (Sun,) studied this question.