To Be or Not To Be Polar: The Ferroelectric and Antiferroelectric Nematic Phases

Ewan Cruickshank; Paulina Rybak; Magdalena M Majewska; Shona Ramsay; Cheng Wang; Chenhui Zhu; Rebecca Walker; John M D Storey; Corrie T Imrie; Ewa Gorecka; Damian Pociecha

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c05884

To Be or Not To Be Polar: The Ferroelectric and Antiferroelectric Nematic Phases

Ewan Cruickshank, Paulina Rybak, Magdalena M Majewska, Shona Ramsay, Cheng Wang, Chenhui Zhu, Rebecca Walker, John M D Storey, Corrie T Imrie, Ewa Gorecka, Damian Pociecha

Chemistry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)

4 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

We report two new series of compounds that show the ferroelectric nematic, N F, phase in which the terminal chain length is varied. The longer the terminal chain, the weaker the dipole-dipole interactions of the molecules are along the director and thus the lower the temperature at which the axially polar N F phase is formed. For homologues of intermediate chain lengths, between the non-polar and ferroelectric nematic phases, a wide temperature range nematic phase emerges with antiferroelectric character. The size of the antiparallel ferroelectric domains critically increases upon transition to the N F phase. In dielectric studies, both collective ("ferroelectric") and non-collective fluctuations are present, and the "ferroelectric" mode softens weakly at the N-N X phase transition because the polar order in this phase is weak. The transition to the N F phase is characterized by a much stronger lowering of the mode relaxation frequency and an increase in its strength, and a typical critical behavior is observed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	36562-36568
Number of pages	7
Journal	ACS Omega
Volume	8
Issue number	39
Early online date	18 Sept 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.3c05884
Publication status	Published - 3 Oct 2023

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgments
The research was supported by the National Science Centre (Poland) under the grant no. 2021/43/B/ST5/00240. C.T.I. and J.M.D.S. acknowledge the financial support of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under the grant no. EP/V048775/1. The beamlines 7.3.3 and 11.0.1.2 at the Advanced Light Source at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are supported by the Director of the Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02- 05CH11231.

Access to Document

10.1021/acsomega.3c05884Licence: CC BY

Cruickshank_etal_ACSO_To_Be_Or_VOR
This publication is licensed under CC-BY 4.0. License Summary* You are free to share (copy and redistribute) this article in any medium or format and to adapt (remix, transform, and build upon) the material for any purpose, even commercially within the parameters below: cc licence Creative Commons (CC): This is a Creative Commons license. ny licence Attribution (BY): Credit must be given to the creator. View full license *Disclaimer This summary highlights only some of the key features and terms of the actual license. It is not a license and has no legal value. Carefully review the actual license before using these materials.
Final published version, 5.27 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{51dd2d47da444ebd81e2677d44c72c5a,

title = "To Be or Not To Be Polar: The Ferroelectric and Antiferroelectric Nematic Phases",

abstract = "We report two new series of compounds that show the ferroelectric nematic, N F, phase in which the terminal chain length is varied. The longer the terminal chain, the weaker the dipole-dipole interactions of the molecules are along the director and thus the lower the temperature at which the axially polar N F phase is formed. For homologues of intermediate chain lengths, between the non-polar and ferroelectric nematic phases, a wide temperature range nematic phase emerges with antiferroelectric character. The size of the antiparallel ferroelectric domains critically increases upon transition to the N F phase. In dielectric studies, both collective ({"}ferroelectric{"}) and non-collective fluctuations are present, and the {"}ferroelectric{"} mode softens weakly at the N-N X phase transition because the polar order in this phase is weak. The transition to the N F phase is characterized by a much stronger lowering of the mode relaxation frequency and an increase in its strength, and a typical critical behavior is observed. ",

author = "Ewan Cruickshank and Paulina Rybak and Majewska, {Magdalena M} and Shona Ramsay and Cheng Wang and Chenhui Zhu and Rebecca Walker and Storey, {John M D} and Imrie, {Corrie T} and Ewa Gorecka and Damian Pociecha",

note = "Acknowledgments The research was supported by the National Science Centre (Poland) under the grant no. 2021/43/B/ST5/00240. C.T.I. and J.M.D.S. acknowledge the financial support of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under the grant no. EP/V048775/1. The beamlines 7.3.3 and 11.0.1.2 at the Advanced Light Source at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are supported by the Director of the Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02- 05CH11231.",

year = "2023",

month = oct,

day = "3",

doi = "10.1021/acsomega.3c05884",

language = "English",

volume = "8",

pages = "36562--36568",

journal = "ACS Omega",

issn = "2470-1343",

publisher = "American Chemical Society",

number = "39",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - To Be or Not To Be Polar

T2 - The Ferroelectric and Antiferroelectric Nematic Phases

AU - Cruickshank, Ewan

AU - Rybak, Paulina

AU - Majewska, Magdalena M

AU - Ramsay, Shona

AU - Wang, Cheng

AU - Zhu, Chenhui

AU - Walker, Rebecca

AU - Storey, John M D

AU - Imrie, Corrie T

AU - Gorecka, Ewa

AU - Pociecha, Damian

N1 - Acknowledgments The research was supported by the National Science Centre (Poland) under the grant no. 2021/43/B/ST5/00240. C.T.I. and J.M.D.S. acknowledge the financial support of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under the grant no. EP/V048775/1. The beamlines 7.3.3 and 11.0.1.2 at the Advanced Light Source at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are supported by the Director of the Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02- 05CH11231.

PY - 2023/10/3

Y1 - 2023/10/3

N2 - We report two new series of compounds that show the ferroelectric nematic, N F, phase in which the terminal chain length is varied. The longer the terminal chain, the weaker the dipole-dipole interactions of the molecules are along the director and thus the lower the temperature at which the axially polar N F phase is formed. For homologues of intermediate chain lengths, between the non-polar and ferroelectric nematic phases, a wide temperature range nematic phase emerges with antiferroelectric character. The size of the antiparallel ferroelectric domains critically increases upon transition to the N F phase. In dielectric studies, both collective ("ferroelectric") and non-collective fluctuations are present, and the "ferroelectric" mode softens weakly at the N-N X phase transition because the polar order in this phase is weak. The transition to the N F phase is characterized by a much stronger lowering of the mode relaxation frequency and an increase in its strength, and a typical critical behavior is observed.

AB - We report two new series of compounds that show the ferroelectric nematic, N F, phase in which the terminal chain length is varied. The longer the terminal chain, the weaker the dipole-dipole interactions of the molecules are along the director and thus the lower the temperature at which the axially polar N F phase is formed. For homologues of intermediate chain lengths, between the non-polar and ferroelectric nematic phases, a wide temperature range nematic phase emerges with antiferroelectric character. The size of the antiparallel ferroelectric domains critically increases upon transition to the N F phase. In dielectric studies, both collective ("ferroelectric") and non-collective fluctuations are present, and the "ferroelectric" mode softens weakly at the N-N X phase transition because the polar order in this phase is weak. The transition to the N F phase is characterized by a much stronger lowering of the mode relaxation frequency and an increase in its strength, and a typical critical behavior is observed.

U2 - 10.1021/acsomega.3c05884

DO - 10.1021/acsomega.3c05884

M3 - Article

C2 - 37810647

SN - 2470-1343

VL - 8

SP - 36562

EP - 36568

JO - ACS Omega

JF - ACS Omega

IS - 39

ER -

To Be or Not To Be Polar: The Ferroelectric and Antiferroelectric Nematic Phases

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this