Research

Ferroelectrics are important electronic materials with a variety of applications, such as non-volatile memories, piezoelectric devices and sensors that take advantage of their diverse functions. Most of the ferroelectrics that have been commercialized so far are inorganic oxides, such as barium titanate, which are known as chitabari in Japan. However, they are difficult to process using the solution method, and many of the useful materials contain toxic lead. Organic ferroelectric crystals, which have been actively developed in recent years, cannot be used in polycrystalline materials because polarization processing that changes the polarization direction in three dimensions is impossible. The flexible ferroelectric crystals we have recently developed can change the polarization direction almost freely, so that the polarization direction of polycrystals in disks and thin films can be aligned to create a polarization state close to that of a single crystal. They can also be stretched and expanded under pressure at high temperatures. In other words, this flexible ferroelectric crystal is a ferroelectric material that combines the advantages of conventional materials such as inorganic oxides, organic crystals and polymers.