Map the E–T boundary for nucleation-limited vs. domain-wall propagation in CIPS

Determine whether monolayer CuInP2S6 (CIPS) exhibits a crossover from independent local Cu-site flipping (nucleation-limited switching) to sequential domain wall propagation when temperature is lowered and electric field strength is increased, and map the boundary separating these regimes in electric field–temperature parameter space.

Background

CIPS is a van der Waals ferroelectric where previous work reported spatially uncorrelated switching behavior at elevated temperatures, consistent with a nucleation-limited switching picture. In conventional ferroelectrics, polarization reversal can proceed via domain wall motion that depends on drive and temperature, suggesting the possibility of a regime shift under different conditions.

The paper explicitly notes that it is not yet established whether lowering temperature to suppress thermal nucleation while increasing the electric field can induce a transition to sequential domain wall propagation in CIPS, and that the boundary between these switching regimes in electric field–temperature space has not been mapped. The authors structure subsequent demonstrations to begin addressing this gap, but do not claim a comprehensive mapping.

References

This raises the question of whether CIPS, despite the NLS-like behavior reported at elevated temperatures, can access a more correlated wall-propagation regime under different conditions—specifically, whether lowering temperature to suppress stochastic thermal nucleation while increasing the electric field can drive a crossover from independent local flipping to sequential domain wall propagation. The boundary between these regimes in electric field--temperature parameter space has not been mapped.

— MatClaw: An Autonomous Code-First LLM Agent for End-to-End Materials Exploration  (2604.02688 - Zhang et al., 3 Apr 2026) in Section 3 (Demonstration tasks and failure analysis), opening paragraphs