Fluorine-free strongly dipolar polymers exhibit tunable ferroelectricity.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 40608940.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.ads4702.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
Current research on ferroelectric polymers centers predominantly on poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)-based fluoropolymers because of their superior performance. However, they are considered "forever chemicals" with environmental concerns. We describe a family of rationally designed fluorine-free ferroelectric polymers, featuring a polyoxypropylene main chain and disulfonyl alkyl side chains with a C3 spacer: -SO<sub>2</sub>CH<sub>2</sub>CHRCH<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>2</sub>- (R = -H or -CH<sub>3</sub>). Both experimental and simulation results demonstrate that strong dipole-dipole interactions between neighboring disulfonyl groups induce ferroelectric ordering in the condensed state, which can be tailored by changing the R group: ferroelectric for R = -H or relaxor ferroelectric for R = -CH<sub>3</sub>. At low electric fields, the relaxor polymer exhibits electroactuation and electrocaloric performance comparable with those of state-of-the-art PVDF-based tetrapolymers.