All-polymeric control of nanoferronics

• Main Authors: Xu, B. (Author), Hall, A. (Author), Gao, W. (Author), Gong, M. (Author), Yuan, G. (Author), Ren, S. (Author), Li, Huashan (Contributor), Grossman, Jeffrey C. (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2018-05-17T18:13:18Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

In the search for light and flexible nanoferronics, significant research effort is geared toward discovering the coexisting magnetic and electric orders in crystalline charge-transfer complexes. We report the first example of multiferroicity in centimeter-sized crystalline polymeric charge-transfer superstructures that grow at the liquidair interface and are controlled by the regioregularity of the polymeric chain. The charge order-driven ferroic mechanism reveals spontaneous and hysteretic polarization and magnetization at the donor-acceptor interface. The charge transfer and ordering in the ferroic assemblies depend critically on the self-organizing and molecular packing of electron donors and acceptors. The invention described here not only represents a new coupling mechanism of magnetic and electric ordering but also creates a new class of emerging all-organic nanoferronics. Keywords: self-assembly; crystalline structures; magnetoelectrics; charge transfer