MISTRAL: Molecular chemistry for the nexT geneRAtion of ferroeLectrics
Coordinator: Jérôme LONG
ICGM – Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier
(UMR 5253 Univ. Montpellier/CNRS/ENS Chimie Montpellier)
Keywords: molecular chemistry, coordination chemistry, ferroelectrics, fluidics, data storage, structures, shaping, Piezoforce Microscopy, DFT calculations
The exponential growth in data consumption, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, poses a major societal challenge in the field of data storage. Ferroelectric (FE) materials have emerged as promising alternatives, offering rapid operations and low energy consumption. Currently, the most studied materials are metal oxides frequently incorporating critical metals. In contrast, molecular FEs stand out for their structural diversity, synthesis under mild conditions, and recycling potential. However, they remain relatively unexplored in Europe and France.
This project highlights a molecular chemistry approach, based on the use of chiral molecular building blocks, which has already demonstrated competitive performance in the case of lanthanide-based molecular FEs. However, obtaining single crystals, which requires screening of synthesis parameters through an empirical approach, and characterizing the FE properties are critical steps in the discovery of new systems with optimized properties. Furthermore, the high-throughput rationalization and prediction of FE properties of such materials remain largely unexplored.
This exploratory project aims to employ, for the first time in molecular FEs, a high-throughput continuous microfluidics approach, enabling efficient screening of optimal crystallization conditions to accelerate the discovery of new molecular FE materials. We will focus on purely organic or noncritical metal-incorporating (Zn, Fe, Al, Mg, Ca) chiral molecular materials. The high processability of these molecular materials will be exploited to shape them into thin films.
Additionally, this project will investigate the magnetoelectrical (ME) coupling in specific systems, exploring the potential for multi-level data storage and spintronics applications. One of the distinctive aspects of this project is the development of specific FE characterization techniques tailored to
molecular FE materials. These techniques will encompass complementary macroscopic and nanoscopic FE measurements. This experimental approach will be complemented by theoretical calculations to rationalize the properties of the obtained materials and guide the synthesis of new systems by modulating certain parameters (substituents, metal centers, etc.).
Ultimately, the concepts developed in this project can be extended to numerous other magnetic and/or optical molecular materials.