Hydrogen-Bonding Molecular Chains for High-Temperature Ferroelectricity

Hydrogen-bonded polar chains with bistable configurations exhibit cooperative proton tautomerism and polarity switching when an electric field is applied, as observed by well-defined polarization hysteresis at room temperature. This principle can guarantee the ferroelectricity of strong polarization at low voltage and high temperature in a wide class of molecular materials and should be applied to polymeric and biomolecular systems. [GRAPHICS] .