Fluorine-free strongly dipolar polymers exhibit tunable ferroelectricity

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Huang, Jiahao; Rui, Guanchun; Yan, Yueming; Allahyarov, Elshad; Kwok, Man-Hin; Zhu, Wenyi; Li, Li; Zhang, Shixian; Pan, Zhiliang; Li, Deyu; Zhang, Honghu; Mu, Richard R.; Zhao, Bin; Wang, Qing; Taylor, Philip L.; Haglund, Richard F.; Zhang, Q. M.; Zhu, Lei
• 署名单位: University System of Ohio; Case Western Reserve University; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park; Arkema; Vanderbilt University; Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf; Russian Academy of Sciences; Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences; University System of Ohio; Case Western Reserve University; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park; Vanderbilt University; United States Department of Energy (DOE); Brookhaven National Laboratory; Tennessee State University; University of Tennessee System; University of Tennessee Knoxville; Chinese University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-11938
• DOI: 10.1126/science.ads4702
• 发表日期: 2025-07-03
• 页码: 69-72
• 关键词: liquid-crystal; BEHAVIOR; ceramics

摘要

Current research on ferroelectric polymers centers predominantly on poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)-based fluoropolymers because of their superior performance. However, they are considered forever chemicals with environmental concerns. We describe a family of rationally designed fluorine-free ferroelectric polymers, featuring a polyoxypropylene main chain and disulfonyl alkyl side chains with a C3 spacer: -SO2CH2CHRCH2SO2- (R = -H or -CH3). Both experimental and simulation results demonstrate that strong dipole-dipole interactions between neighboring disulfonyl groups induce ferroelectric ordering in the condensed state, which can be tailored by changing the R group: ferroelectric for R = -H or relaxor ferroelectric for R = -CH3. At low electric fields, the relaxor polymer exhibits electroactuation and electrocaloric performance comparable with those of state-of-the-art PVDF-based tetrapolymers.