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Observation of Transition from Ferroelasticity to Ferroelectricity by Solvent Selective Effect in Anilinium Bromide
Author(s) -
Fu DaWei,
Gao JiXing,
Huang PeiZhi,
Ren RuiYing,
Shao Ting,
Han LiJun,
Liu Jia,
Gong JunMiao
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.202015219
Subject(s) - ferroelasticity , ferroelectricity , solvent , acetonitrile , crystallization , chemistry , phase transition , solvent effects , crystallography , organic chemistry , materials science , dielectric , thermodynamics , physics , optoelectronics
Abstract Organic ferroelectrics are highly desirable for their light weight, mechanical flexibility and biocompatibility. However, the rational design of organic ferroelectrics has always faced great challenges. Anilinium bromide (AB) has two structures reported in the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, which might be an mmm F2/ m type ferroelastic (AB‐1). When we studied its ferroelasticity, we were surprised to discover that there was another crystal (AB‐2) in H 2 O besides this one, and they were very difficult to separate. By changing the solvent, we found that AB‐1 crystals could be formed in ethanol, where ferroelastic domains were visualized by polarized light microscopy, and AB‐2 crystals could be obtained from various crystallization solvents of methanol, isopropanol, N ‐butanol, acetonitrile, dimethyl sulfoxide, and N , N ‐dimethylformamide, which undergo a ferroelectric phase transition with mm 2F m , showing clear ferroelectricity in two phases. To our knowledge, the regulation of ferroelasticity to ferroelectricity by solvent selective effect is unprecedented in the field of ferroelectrics. This work reveals the important role of solvent effect in organic ferroelectrics.