The quest for electronic ferroelectricity in organic charge-transfer crystals

Abstract

Organic ferroelectric materials are in demand in the growing field of environmentally friendly, lightweight electronics. Donor-Acceptor charge transfer crystals have been recently proposed as a new class of organic ferroelectrics, which may possess a new kind of ferroelectricity, the so-called electronic ferroelectricity, larger and with faster polarity switching in comparison with conventional, inorganic or organic, ferroelectrics. The current research aimed at achieving ambient conditions electronic ferroelectricity in organic charge transfer crystals is shortly reviewed, in such a way to evidence the emerging criteria that have to be fulfilled to reach this challenging goal.