Spintronics has captured a lot of attention since it was proposed. It has been triggering numerous research groups to make their efforts on pursuing spin-related electronic devices. Recently, flexible and wearable devices are in a high demand due to their outstanding potential in practical applications. In order to introduce spintronics into the realm of flexible devices, we demonstrate that it is feasible to grow epitaxial FeO film, a promising candidate for realizing spintronic devices based on tunneling magnetoresistance, on flexible muscovite. In this study, the heteroepitaxy of FeO/muscovite is characterized by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The chemical composition and magnetic feature are investigated by a combination of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism. The electrical and magnetic properties are examined to show the preservation of the primitive properties of FeO. Furthermore, various bending tests are performed to show the tunability of functionalities and to confirm that the heterostructures retain the physical properties under repeated cycles. These results illustrate that the FeO/muscovite heterostructure can be a potential candidate for the applications in flexible spintronics.

Lithiation/delithiation induces significant stresses and strains into the electrodes for lithium ion batteries, which can severely degrade their cycling performance. Moreover, this electrochemically induced strain can interact with the local strain existing at solid-solid interfaces. It is not clear how this interaction affects the lithiation mechanism. The effect of this coupling on the lithiation kinetics in epitaxial Fe O thin film on a Nb-doped SrTiO substrate is investigated. In situ and ex situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results show that the lithiation is suppressed by the compressive interfacial strain. At the interface between the film and substrate, the existence of Li Fe O rock-salt phase during lithiation consequently restrains the film from delamination. 2D phase-field simulation verifies the effect of strain. This work provides critical insights of understanding the solid-solid interfaces of conversion-type electrodes.

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