%0 Journal Article
%K Atomic force microscopy
%K Domain walls
%K Ferroelectric materials
%K Ferroelectricity
%K Ferroelectric domains
%K High resolution transmission electron microscopy
%K Electronic structure
%K Electrostatic potentials
%K Electronic conductivity
%K Local electronic structures
%K Conductive atomic force microscopy
%K Density functional computations
%K Device application
%K Nanoscale features
%A J Seidel
%A L.W Martin
%A Q He
%A Q Zhan
%A Y.-H Chu
%A A Rother
%A M.E Hawkridge
%A P Maksymovych
%A P Yu
%A M Gajek
%A N Balke
%A S.V Kalinin
%A S Gemming
%A F Wang
%A G Catalan
%A J.F Scott
%A N.A Spaldin
%A J Orenstein
%A Ramamoorthy Ramesh
%B Nature Materials
%D 2009
%G eng
%I Nature Publishing Group
%P 229-234
%R 10.1038/nmat2373
%T Conduction at domain walls in oxide multiferroics
%V 8
%X Domain walls may play an important role in future electronic devices, given their small size as well as the fact that their location can be controlled. Here, we report the observation of room-temperature electronic conductivity at ferroelectric domain walls in the insulating multiferroic BiFeO 3. The origin and nature of the observed conductivity are probed using a combination of conductive atomic force microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and first-principles density functional computations. Our analyses indicate that the conductivity correlates with structurally driven changes in both the electrostatic potential and the local electronic structure, which shows a decrease in the bandgap at the domain wall. Additionally, we demonstrate the potential for device applications of such conducting nanoscale features.