Discovery of a new type of organic ferroelectric materials in natural biomass dehydroabietylamine Schiff bases

Abstract

Three kinds of Schiff bases, 5-chlorosalicylidene dehydroabietylamine (ClDHA), 5-bromosalicylidene dehydroabietylamine (BrDHA) and 5-nitrosalicylidene dehydroabietylamine (NODHA), have been prepared and characterized by elemental analyses, IR, circular dichroism (CD), and X-ray structural analyses. Ferroelectric, dielectric and NLO properties are reported for the first time in cheap natural biomass resource dehydroabietylamine derivatives and their ferroelectric properties can be easily tuned through the substituents of the aromatic aldehyde. With the increase in electron-withdrawing properties of the substituents from –Br to –Cl and then –NO₂, the P_s values or the ferroelectric properties gradually increased.