Polaron formation in Bi-deficient

DI NAPOLI, SOLANGE; NUKALA, P; LUDERS, U; ROMÁN ACEVEDO, W; RODRÍGUEZ RUIZ, G; LECOURT, J; D. RUBI; ROMANO, F; QUINTEROS, C; V. L. VILDOSOLA

PHYSICAL REVIEW B

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Año: 2021 vol. 104 p. 125307 - 125315

1098-0121

BaBiO3 is a charged ordered Peierls-like perovskite well known for its superconducting properties upon K or Pb doping. We present a study on the transport and electronic properties of BaBiO3 perovskite with strong Bi deficiency. We show that it is possible to synthesize BaBiO3 thin layers with Bi vacancies above 8?10% by depositing an yttrium-stabilized zirconia capping layer. By combining transport measurements with ab initio calculations we propose a scenario where the Bi vacancies give rise to the formation of polarons and suggest that the electrical transport is dominated by the migration of these polarons trapped at Bi3+ sites. Our paper shows that cation vacancies engineering, hardly explored to date, appears as a promising pathway to tune the electronic and functional properties of perovskites.