Molecule-displacive ferroelectricity in organic supramolecular solids

Ferroelectricity is essential to many forms of current technology, ranging from sensors and actuators to optical or memory devices. In this circumstance, organic ferroelectrics are of particular importance because of their potential application in tomorrow's organic devices, and several pure organic ferroelectrics have been recently developed. However, some problems, such as current leakage and/or low working frequencies, make their application prospects especially for ferroelectric memory (FeRAM) not clear. Here, we describe the molecule-displacive ferroelectricity of supramolecular adducts of tartaric acid and 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane N,N'-dioxide. The adducts show large spontaneous polarization, high rectangularity of the ferroelectric hysteresis loops even at high operation frequency (10 kHz), and high performance in polarization switching up to 1 × 10⁶ times without showing fatigue. It opens great perspectives in terms of applications, especially in organic FeRAM.