Letter abstract
Nature Materials 4, 163 - 166 (2005)
Published online: 23 January 2005 | doi:10.1038/nmat1298
Subject Categories: Composites | Electronic materials | Design synthesis and processing
Ferroelectricity near room temperature in co-crystals of nonpolar organic molecules
Sachio Horiuchi1, Fumiyuki Ishii2, Reiji Kumai1, Yoichi Okimoto1, Hiroaki Tachibana1, Naoto Nagaosa1,3 & Yoshinori Tokura1,2,3
The research on ferroelectric materials—mostly inorganic compounds or organic polymers1, 2, 3—is increasingly motivated by both basic scientific concerns and the potential for practical applications in electronics and optics. Ferroelectricity in organic solids would be important for the development of all-organic electronic and photonic devices. The conventional approach to making organic ferroelectrics is based on the use of polar molecules. Here we report that through supramolecular assembly of nonpolar conjugated molecules, a remarkable ferroelectric response can be obtained in co-crystals of low-molecular-weight organic compounds. Co-crystals of phenazine and chloranilic acid reveal large spontaneous polarization and sizable room-temperature dielectric constants exceeding 100. The present findings provide an approach to making potentially useful organic ferroelectric materials.
- Correlated Electron Research Center (CERC), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, 305-8562, Japan
- Tokura Spin Superstructure Project (SSS), ERATO, JST, c/o AIST, Tsukuba, 305-8562, Japan
- Department of Applied Physics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
Correspondence to: Sachio Horiuchi1 e-mail: s-horiuchi@aist.go.jp
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