Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Molecular Materials: From Multiferroic to Magnetoelectric

Abstract

Inorganic-organic hybrid molecular multiferroic and magnetoelectric materials, similar to multiferroic oxide compounds, have recently attracted increasing attention because they exhibit diverse architectures, a flexible framework, fascinating physics, and potential magnetoelectric functionalities in novel multifunctional devices such as energy transformation devices, sensors, and information storage systems. Herein, the classification of multiferroicity and magnetoelectricity is briefly outlined and then the recent advances in the multiferroicity and magnetoelectricity of inorganic-organic hybrid molecular materials, particularly magnetoelectricity and the relevant magnetoelectric mechanisms and their categories are summarized. In addition, a personal perspective and an outlook are provided.

Highest-Tc single-component homochiral organic ferroelectrics

“…Importantly, molecular ferroelectrics exhibit intrinsically natural merits of lightweight, flexibility, low-cost, acoustic impedance matching with the human body, which have been expected to be a beneficial supplement to inorganic ferroelectrics. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] For decades, a series of impressive achievements have been made in molecular ferroelectrics, mainly focusing on organic ammonium salts and organic-inorganic hybrids. [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] However, organic singlecomponent (SC) ferroelectrics with low molecular mass showing promising for organic flexible devices are only a handful.…”

Ferroic phase transition molecular crystals

“…Efforts have been put into the exploration of new materials and improvement of properties (transition temperature T C , spontaneous polarization P s , piezo-& pyroelectric coefficient, and so on). Notably, the research focus has begun to shift to application-driven studies and explore other functional properties like multiferroicity, 23 the ferroelectric bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE), 24 and ferroelectric photodetection and spintronics. 25 These trends will satisfy the need for next-generation smart and soft functional materials.…”

“…Attention to the multiferroics arises from the magnetoelectric effect study, which focuses on the interplay between electricity and magnetism. 23,92 To date, numerous magnetoelectrics and multiferroics have been reported in which inorganic oxides are the most important type. But most of them only show a weak magnetoelectric effect and low T C .…”

“…The extensively studied BiFeO 3 is a rare room-temperature multiferroic with an experimental P s of 60 μC cm −2 , ferroelectric T C of 1103 K, and G-type antiferromagnetic Néel temperature (T N ) of 643 K. 93 Besides the inorganic ferroelectrics, organic-inorganic hybrid molecular materials have recently become a focus for multiferroic studies because of their diverse structures and rich functionalities. 23 Molecular multiferroics are a natural expansion of molecular ferroelectrics. Promising candidates include host-guest frameworks, layered metal-halide hybrids, and organic charge-transfer complexes.…”

Metal ion modulation triggers dielectric double switching and green fluorescence in A2MX4-type compounds

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Based on the above characteristics, these types of materials have potential applications in the fields of sensors, optoelectronic devices, information storage, signal processing, and switches. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Organic-inorganic hybrid (OIH) materials possess good structural tunability and overcome the disadvantages of conventional inorganic materials such as low flexibility and high cost. Therefore, they are considered as ideal materials for designing multifunctional responsive materials.…”