Ferroelectricity in graphene nanoribbon devices enabled by collective water molecule dynamics

Abstract

Water is omnipresent in nanoscale systems, yet its collective dynamics and impact on emerging electronics remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the role of water molecule dynamics in the ferroelectric response of graphene nanoribbon devices. Our findings demonstrate that the collective dynamics of water molecules stabilize the ferroelectric effect. We find that a minimum bi-layer thickness is required for the temperature stability of the ferroelectric effect. In contrast, mono-layer ribbons show a 70% shrinkage of the hysteresis window between 120 and 400 K. Using a combination of electrical transport measurements and molecular dynamics simulations, we conclude that water molecules bridging between graphene nanoribbon layers stabilize the formation of water clusters via intermolecular Coulomb interactions, driving a robust ferroelectric behavior and remnant polarization observed at the device level. This work lays the foundations for exploiting water dynamics in next-generation ferroelectric heterostructures, with direct implications for neuromorphic computing and memory devices.