Charge Order Driven Multiferroic Behaviour in Sr$_4$Fe$_6$O$_{12}$: An $\textit{Ab-initio}$ Study

Abstract

In this letter, we report the structural, electronic and ferroelectric properties of the layered mixed-valent transition-metal compound, Sr$_{4}$Fe$_{6}$O$_{12}$ (SFO). We demonstrate how SFO undergoes a phase transition from a high-temperature (T) centrosymmetric tetragonal phase ($P4_{2}/mnm$) to a low-T polar orthorhombic phase ($Pmn2_{1}$). The transition is primarily driven by charge ordering at tetrahedral Fe-layer creating Fe$^{3+}$ and Fe$^{2+}$ cations between two edge sharing tetrahedra. This charge ordering induces electronic polarization, which is remarkably larger (3.5 times) in magnitude than ionic polarization and oppositely directed, giving a net polarization of 0.05 C/m$^2$ which is comparable to the state-of-the-art rare-earth nickelets and manganite perovskites. The direction of structural distortion, governed by the polar mode irrep $\Gamma_{5}^{-}$, depends sensitively on the type of magnetic ordering in the Fe-octahedral layer. Consequently, both the ionic and electronic polarization directions are influenced by magnetic ordering, suggesting the potential for multiferroic behavior with strong magneto-electric coupling in this material.