Self-Assembly of Organic Ferroelectrics by Evaporative Dewetting: A Case of β-Glycine

S. Hosseini, Ensieh; Romanyuk, Konstantin; Vasileva, Daria; Vasilev, Semen; Nuraeva, Alla; Zelenovskiy, Pavel; Ivanov, Maxim; Morozovska, Anna N.; Shur, Vladimir Ya; Lu, Haidong; Gruverman, Alexei; Kholkin, Andrei L.

Abstract

Self-assembly of ferroelectric materials attracts significant interest because it offers a promising fabrication route to novel structures useful for microelectronic devices such as nonvolatile memories, integrated sensors/actuators, or energy harvesters. In this work, we demonstrate a novel approach for self-assembly of organic ferroelectrics (as exemplified by ferroelectric β-glycine) using evaporative dewetting, which allows forming quasi-regular arrays of nano- and microislands with preferred orientation of polarization axes. Surprisingly, self-assembled islands are crystallographically oriented in a radial direction from the center of organic “grains” formed during dewetting process. The kinetics of dewetting process follows the t–1/2 law, which is responsible for the observed polygon shape of the grain boundaries and island coverage as a function of radial position. The polarization in ferroelectric islands of β-glycine is parallel to the substrate and switchable under a relatively small dc voltage applied by the conducting tip of piezoresponse force microscope. Significant size effect on polarization is observed and explained within the Landau–Ginzburg–Devonshire phenomenological formalism.

Citation

S. Hosseini, E., Romanyuk, K., Vasileva, D., Vasilev, S., Nuraeva, A., Zelenovskiy, P., …Kholkin, A. L. (2017). Self-Assembly of Organic Ferroelectrics by Evaporative Dewetting: A Case of β-Glycine. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 9(23), 20029–20037. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b02952

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 23, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jun 2, 2017
• Publication Date: Jun 14, 2017
• Deposit Date: Dec 25, 2021
• Journal: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
• Print ISSN: 1944-8244
• Electronic ISSN: 1944-8252
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 23
• Pages: 20029–20037
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b02952
• Keywords: self-assembly; organic ferroelectrics; glycine; dewetting; size effect
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1219877