Solution-Processed Molecular Opto-Ferroic Crystals

Supramolecular assembly utilizing noncovalent interaction to construct ordered molecular charge-transfer solids has led to significant advancement and breakthrough in energy-efficient molecular electronics, memories and solar cells. However, to exploit the coupling across these different energy regimes, the method that is capable of manipulating charge-spinlattice interactions is indispensable. Here, by rational chemical design of the supramolecular assembled charge-transfer networks, opto-ferroic properties can be coupled, in which a collective electron transfer and ordering strongly influence the dipole and spin orders, as well as their coupling. The supramolecular charge-transfer crystal presented here opens up a new route for the development of multifunctional organics that can lead to significant advancement in molecular ferronics.