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Quantum spin Hall insulators (QSHI) have been proposed to power a number ofapplications, many of which rely on the possibility to switch on and off thenon-trivial topology. Typically this control is achieved through strain orexternal electric fields, which require energy consumption to be maintained. Onthe contrary, a non-volatile mechanism would be highly beneficial and could berealized through ferroelectricity if opposite polarization states areassociated with different topological phases. While this is not possible in asingle ferroelectric material where the two polarization states are related byinversion, the necessary asymmetry could be introduced by combining aferroelectric layer with another two-dimensional (2D) trivial insulator. Here,by means of first-principles simulations, not only we propose that this is apromising strategy to engineer non-volatile ferroelectric control oftopological order in 2D heterostructures, but also that the effect is robustand can survive up to room temperature, irrespective of the weak van der Waalscoupling between the layers. We illustrate the general idea by considering aheterostructure made of a well-known ferroelectric material, In$_2$Se$_3$, anda suitably chosen, easily exfoliable trivial insulator, CuI. In onepolarization state the system is trivial, while it becomes a QSHI with a robustband gap upon polarization reversal. Remarkably, the topological band gap ismediated by the interlayer hybridization and allows to maximise the effect ofintralayer spin-orbit coupling, promoting a robust ferroelectric topologicalphase that could not exist in monolayer materials and is resilient againstrelative orientation and lattice matching between the layers.

Twist-resilient and robust ferroelectric quantum spin Hall insulators driven by van der Waals interactions