Elastic Relaxor Ferroelectric by Thiol-ene Click Reaction

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2024 May 6;63(19):e202400511. doi: 10.1002/anie.202400511. Epub 2024 Apr 4.

Abstract

As ferroelectrics hold significance and application prospects in wearable devices, the elastification of ferroelectrics becomes more and more important. Nevertheless, achieving elastic ferroelectrics requires stringent synthesis conditions, while the elastification of relaxor ferroelectric materials remains unexplored, presenting an untapped potential for utilization in energy storage and actuation for wearable electronics. The thiol-ene click reaction offers a mild and rapid reaction platform to prepare functional polymers. Therefore, we employed this approach to obtain an elastic relaxor ferroelectric by crosslinking an intramolecular carbon-carbon double bonds (CF=CH) polymer matrix with multiple thiol groups via a thiol-ene click reaction. The resulting elastic relaxor ferroelectric demonstrates pronounced relaxor-type ferroelectric behaviour. This material exhibits low modulus, excellent resilience, and fatigue resistance, maintaining a stable ferroelectric response even under strains up to 70 %. This study introduces a straightforward and efficient approach for the construction of elastic relaxor ferroelectrics, thereby expanding the application possibilities in wearable electronics.

Keywords: Elastic ferroelectric; Poly(vinylidene fluoride); Polymer ferroelectric; Relaxor ferroelectric; Thiol-ene click reaction.