Switching Behavior of Dip-Coated Organic Ferroelectric Trialkylbenzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (BTA)

Supramolecular organic ferroelectrics have unique properties related to plasticity and freedom of design but the extensive post-deposition treatments that are typically required to achieve saturation polarization limit their applicability. A possible solution is to pre-align the molecules. Here, the effect of dip-coating on the pre-alignment of the prototypical supramolecular ferroelectric trialkylbenzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (BTA) and the resulting changes in the ferroelectric switching behavior of the resulting thin films are analyzed. Dip-coated films are characterized by different BTA concentrations and dip-coating velocities. Landau-Levich and evaporation regimes are identified. The corresponding ferroelectric switching behavior is investigated and reveals that dip-coating in general enhances the ferroelectric switching of pristine films. Dip-coating perpendicular to the electrodes (parallel to the electric field direction) has the most significant effect, and without further alignment steps, leads to equal switching behavior as films that are aligned by post-deposition treatment, that is, field annealing. The results are expected to be transferable to other small molecular ferroelectrics.

Automated summary

This study analyzed the effect of dip-coating on the pre-alignment of supramolecular ferroelectric materials and observed that dip-coating can enhance the ferroelectric switching behavior.