A ferroelectric superlattice with an antiferroelectric interfacial coupling is considered; the same model describes a bilayer with antiferroelectric coupling. By mapping minimum points in the Landau free energy expression and plotting them against the applied electric field, a triple hysteresis loop pattern is obtained. The loop patterns vary between typically ferroelectric and typically antiferroelectric depending on the layer thicknesses and the magnitude of the interfacial-coupling constant. This work suggests the possibility of designing multilayer elements for computer memories with four or more different storage states.

We propose 2D NbSe ₂ H/g-ZnO vdW type-II heterostructure as a promising photocatalytic material for water splitting.

In this work, the feasibility of a monolayer Be₂C as the anode material for lithium-ion battery (LiB) was investigated using the density functional theory. Our study reveals that the adsorption of Li atoms changes the electronic conductivity of a monolayer Be₂C from semiconducting to metallic. This resulted in a low Li diffusion barrier of 0.11 eV, which is highly needed for the fast charge and discharge processes of the LiB. Additionally, the predicted open-circuit voltage was 0.33 V, and the calculated maximum theoretical capacity was impressively high (1785 mAh/g). Our findings suggest that the monolayer Be₂C is a promising anode material for high-performance LiB.