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Nanoscale Ferroelectricity in Crystalline γ‐Glycine
Author(s) -
Heredia Alejandro,
Meunier Vincent,
Bdikin Igor K.,
Gracio José,
Balke Nina,
Jesse Stephen,
Tselev Alexander,
Agarwal Pratul K.,
Sumpter Bobby G.,
Kalinin Sergei V.,
Kholkin Andrei L.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201103011
Subject(s) - ferroelectricity , materials science , nanoscopic scale , polarization (electrochemistry) , piezoelectricity , nanotechnology , glycine , electric field , information storage , optoelectronics , dielectric , amino acid , computer science , chemistry , biochemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , composite material , database
Abstract Ferroelectrics are multifunctional materials that reversibly change their polarization under an electric field. Recently, the search for new ferroelectrics has focused on organic and bio‐organic materials, where polarization switching is used to record/retrieve information in the form of ferroelectric domains. This progress has opened a new avenue for data storage, molecular recognition, and new self‐assembly routes. Crystalline glycine is the simplest amino acid and is widely used by living organisms to build proteins. Here, it is reported for the first time that γ ‐ glycine, which has been known to be piezoelectric since 1954, is also a ferroelectric , as evidenced by local electromechanical measurements and by the existence of as‐grown and switchable ferroelectric domains in microcrystals grown from the solution. The experimental results are rationalized by molecular simulations that establish that the polarization vector in γ ‐ glycine can be switched on the nanoscale level, opening a pathway to novel classes of bioelectronic logic and memory devices.