Ferroelectric Molecule-Based (Magnetic) Materials – FEMMM

The aim of the FEMMM project is to develop new ferroelectric molecule-based (magnetic) materials. Ferroelectric materials featuring electric bistability provides diverse entries into technical applications. During the last decade, molecular ferroelectric materials have received much interest largely owing to their potential uses in computers that require less power, devices that harvest energy from an individual molecular movement, and materials that produces electricity when heated or cooled. Such molecule-based materials are commonly constructed through judicious selection of building units, thereby enabling rational design and direct synthetic control for optimizing targeted properties. In addition to these synthetic advantages, light-weight, low cost, mechanical flexibility, and easy and environmentally friendly processing into a device are main advantages. Although decent amount of molecule-based ferroelectric materials have been developed to date, it is still challenging (i) to develop such materials revealing the performance comparable to inorganic solid materials, such as large spontaneous polarization with high critical temperature, and (ii) to realize multifunctional ferroelectric materials by coupling with other physical properties.

The FEMMM project takes place in this emerging field to address the foregoing challenges. We propose to use halogen bonding interactions as a source of ferroelectricity in order to develop better ferroelectric materials. In addition, we plan to apply organic-inorganic hybrid approach with a goal to engender ferroelectricity together with various magnetic properties, including magnetic bistability (single-molecule magnets, single-chain magnets, long-range magnetic order) and electronic bistability (spin crossover and electron transfer). Given that ferroelectricity results from phase transition in bulk solids, it is critical to make molecule-based materials featuring supramolecular high-dimensional networks and to understand physical properties related to phase transition. These efforts will allow the discovery of new source for ferroelectricity, the systematic study for elucidating structure-ferroelectricity correlation, and the extensive investigation for the coupling of ferroelectric and magnetic properties. In sum, this work will lead to a significant enhancement in this emerging research field and will guide for the design of new ferroelectric materials.

The project is presented by Ms Ie-Rang JEON. This Korean researcher got her PhD on molecular magnetism from the University of Bordeaux in 2012. She is currently working at Northwestern University (Chicago, USA) on redox-active ligand-bridged molecule-based magnets and responsive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. The project will be realized at the Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, in collaboration with Dr. Marc Fourmigué (DR CNRS), who develops a strong activity on crystalline molecular materials (intermolecular interactions, halogen bonding, organic conductors).