Electrolyte-Gated Oxides

Electrolyte gating has the potential to generate electric fields at the surface of materials in the 10 7 –10 8 -V/cm range and induce charge carriers in these materials up to 10 14 –10 15 cm −2 , making this technique very attractive for studying complex and functional oxides. Several types of processes—notably including proton diffusion and intake—can occur during charging, which makes it vitally important to consider and understand exactly how a given material is interacting with an electrolyte. We discuss several of these mechanisms and how to distinguish between them.