Issue 17, 2022

An unprecedented azobenzene-based organic single-component ferroelectric

Abstract

Organic single-component ferroelectrics, as an important class of metal-free ferroelectrics, are highly desirable because of their easy processing, mechanical flexibility, and biocompatibility. However, although nearly 50 years have passed since the discovery of photochromism in azobenzene-doped cholesteric liquid crystals, ferroelectricity has never been found in azobenzene-based crystals. Here, we use an amino group to substitute a fluorine atom of 2,2′,4,4′,6,6′-hexafluoroazobenzene, which successfully introduces ferroelectricity into 2-amino-2′,4,4′,6,6′-pentafluoroazobenzene (APFA). APFA shows an extremely high Curie temperature (Tc) of 443 K, which is outstanding among single-component ferroelectrics. It also exhibits an indirect optical band gap of 2.27 eV as well as photoisomerization behavior between the trans-form and the cis-form triggered by pedal motion. To our knowledge, APFA is the first azobenzene-based ferroelectric crystal. This work opens an avenue to design excellent single-component ferroelectrics and will inspire the exploration of azobenzene-based ferroelectrics for promising applications in biofriendly ferroelectric devices.

Graphical abstract: An unprecedented azobenzene-based organic single-component ferroelectric

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
03 févr. 2022
Accepted
04 avr. 2022
First published
05 avr. 2022
This article is Open Access

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

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 4936-4943

An unprecedented azobenzene-based organic single-component ferroelectric

H. Peng, J. Qi, X. Song, R. Xiong and W. Liao, Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 4936 DOI: 10.1039/D2SC00689H

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements