Electrically and mechanically driven rotation of polar spirals in a relaxor ferroelectric polymer.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38191601.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-44395-5 and PMC identifier 10774403.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Topology created by quasi-continuous spatial variations of a local polarization direction represents an exotic state of matter, but field-driven manipulation has been hitherto limited to creation and destruction. Here we report that relatively small electric or mechanical fields can drive the non-volatile rotation of polar spirals in discretized microregions of the relaxor ferroelectric polymer poly(vinylidene fluoride-ran-trifluoroethylene). These polar spirals arise from the asymmetric Coulomb interaction between vertically aligned helical polymer chains, and can be rotated in-plane through various angles with robust retention. Given also that our manipulation of topological order can be detected via infrared absorption, our work suggests a new direction for the application of complex materials.