Published in

Nature Research, Nature Communications, 1(15), 2024

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44395-5

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Electrically and mechanically driven rotation of polar spirals in a relaxor ferroelectric polymer

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

AbstractTopology created by quasi-continuous spatial variations of a local polarization direction represents an exotic state of matter, but field-driven manipulation has been hitherto limited to creation and destruction. Here we report that relatively small electric or mechanical fields can drive the non-volatile rotation of polar spirals in discretized microregions of the relaxor ferroelectric polymer poly(vinylidene fluoride-ran-trifluoroethylene). These polar spirals arise from the asymmetric Coulomb interaction between vertically aligned helical polymer chains, and can be rotated in-plane through various angles with robust retention. Given also that our manipulation of topological order can be detected via infrared absorption, our work suggests a new direction for the application of complex materials.