All-polymeric control of nanoferronics

BB Xu and HS Li and A Hall and WX Gao and MG Gong and GL Yuan and J Grossman and SQ Ren, SCIENCE ADVANCES, 1, e1501264 (2015).

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1501264

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 liquid-air 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.

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