Issue 2, 2018

Strong polarization switching with low-energy loss in hydrogen-bonded organic antiferroelectrics

Abstract

The electric-field-induced phase transition from antipolar to polar structures is at the heart of antiferroelectricity. We demonstrate direct evidence of antiferroelectricity by applying a strong electric field to two antipolar crystals of squaric acid (SQA) and 5,5′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridinium chloranilate. The field-induced polarization of SQA is quite large and reasonably explained by the theoretically calculated polarization on the hydrogen-bonded sheet sublattice. The pseudo-tetragonal lattice of SQA permits unique switching topologies that produce two different ferroelectric phases of low and high polarizations. By tilting the applied field direction, the electrical switching mechanism can be attributed to a 90° rotation of the sheet polarization. From the viewpoint of applications, the strong polarization, high switching field, and quite slim hysteresis observed in the polarization versus electric field curve for SQA are advantageous for excellent-efficiency energy storage devices.

Graphical abstract: Strong polarization switching with low-energy loss in hydrogen-bonded organic antiferroelectrics

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
04 Sep 2017
Accepted
01 Nov 2017
First published
01 Nov 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2018,9, 425-432

Strong polarization switching with low-energy loss in hydrogen-bonded organic antiferroelectrics

S. Horiuchi, R. Kumai and S. Ishibashi, Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 425 DOI: 10.1039/C7SC03859C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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