Coupling between interfacial strain and oxygen vacancies at complex-oxides interfaces.

The complex-oxides interfaces hold rich physics that have resulted in the emergence of various novel functional properties. While strain engineering has been widely used to induce many properties over the past decade, more recently the role of oxygen vacancies has increasingly drawn wider attention. In particular, research has revealed that there exists a strong coupling between strain and oxygen vacancy formation energy. This coupling can be used to alter oxygen vacancy concentration at interfaces, thereby opening another degree of freedom to control interfacial properties. In this review, we highlight recent works that have interrogated the connection between coupling and the emerging interfacial properties. The coupling has not only been used to selectively create oxygen vacancies at specific crystallographic oxygen sites but has also been used to manipulate ordering of oxygen vacancies near interfaces. In addition, recent studies have extended the existing connection between strain and octahedra distortion to oxygen vacancies, where the role of vacancies in the properties emerging due to octahedra distortion is now being unveiled. Finally, we discuss recent data-science efforts in the design and discovery of complex oxides and property prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]