Fast switching of spontaneous polarization in a microporous molecular rotor ferroelectric

Abstract

The fast switching feature of spontaneous polarization (P_s) is one of the basis for ferroelectric applications in the field of data storage. However, most molecular ferroelectrics exhibit low operating performance in polarization switching. Herein, we report fast switching P_s (25 kHz, 293 K) and low coercive field (0.55 kV cm⁻¹, 353 K) for a microporous structural molecular rotor ferroelectric [CdL₄]²⁺[NO₃⁻]₂ (L = β-alanine). In particular, the high switching frequency of P_s remains steady with high operational cycles (4.66 × 10⁷). Single-crystal structures analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal the fast switching of P_s originating from the fast static–rotating–static process of NO₃⁻. This molecular rotor-type ferroelectric material provides more possibilities to develop next-generation non-volatile memory devices.