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Ferroelectric polymers morph into action

An organic polymer exhibits a phase transition that is associated with improved electromechanical properties. This feature links organic polymers with widely used perovskite materials, and could have many applications.
  1. Ronald E. Cohen

    1. Ronald E. Cohen is at the Extreme Materials Initiative, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington DC 20015, USA, the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany, and the Department of Physics and Astronomy and London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, London, UK.

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The properties of a material can change dramatically in the vicinity of a phase transition. For example, the electromechanical properties of ferroelectric materials are greatly enhanced in a transition region known as a morphotropic phase boundary. Here, the material’s electric polarization (dipole moment per unit volume) rotates from one direction to another. This phenomenon is well studied in perovskite materials, but in a paper in Nature, Liu et al.1 report similar behaviour in an organic polymer. The discovery could open up various applications, such as in medical instruments, power-generating clothes and improved safety devices for structures and vehicles.

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Nature 562, 48-49 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06865-5

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