Supramolecular approach to organic ferroelectrics

Organic ferroelectrics are multifunctional candidates as future organic electronics and optical devices However its observations in organic solids have been quite limited to well-known polymer ferroelectrics and only several low-molecular compounds until recently Our non-covalent synthesis of the molecular compounds with hydrogen bonds between acid and base has realized a number of supramolecular ferroelectrics These compounds display various mechanisms of ferroelectricity such as the molecular displacement and/or collective transfer of protons depending on the nature of hydrogen bonds These principles succeeded in improving properties and would facilitate materials design toward future functional organics (C) 2009 Elsevier B V All rights reserved