Contribution of ferroelectric and non-ferroelectric factors to P–E hysteresis loops of CuInP2S6-type single crystals

A defining property of ferroelectricity is the switching between different states by the application of an electric field. Hysteresis loops serve like a fingerprint of ferroelectric materials giving some useful information. Sometimes the interpretation of information extracted from hysteresis measurements can be challenging due to the non-ferroelectric factors such as electrical conductivity, defect dipole presence and/or dielectric properties. In this paper, the ferroelectric and non-ferroelectric factors on P–E hysteresis loops were investigated in a CuInP2S6-type single crystal. The analysis of data obtained for this single crystal allowed extracting the reliable values in the materials with a low polarization and a high conductivity.