Interfacial ferroelectricity by van der Waals sliding

Despite their partial ionic nature, many-layered diatomic crystals avoid internal electric polarization by forming a centrosymmetric lattice at their optimal van der Waals stacking. Here, we report a stable ferroelectric order emerging at the interface between two naturally grown flakes of hexagonal boron nitride, which are stacked together in a metastable non-centrosymmetric parallel orientation. We observe alternating domains of inverted normal polarization, caused by a lateral shift of one lattice site between the domains. Reversible polarization switching coupled to lateral sliding is achieved by scanning a biased tip above the surface. Our calculations trace the origin of the phenomenon to a subtle interplay between charge redistribution and ionic displacement and provide intuitive insights to explore the interfacial polarization and its distinctive "slidetronics" switching mechanism.