A folded π-system with supramolecularly oriented dipoles: single-component piezoelectric relaxor with NLO activity
D. DeBra, Deepak Asthana, C. Thirmal, Sudhir Kumar Keshri, R. Ghosh, Geeta Hundal, Raju Suresh Kumar, Satyendra Singh, Ratnamala Chatterjee, Pritam Mukhopadhyay
Abstract
), as well as ferroelectric and Debye-type relaxor properties. In addition, it shows second harmonic generation (SHG) activity, which is more than five times that of the benchmark potassium dihydrogen phosphate. Piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM) images validated electro-mechanical deformations. Piezoresponse force spectroscopy (PFS) studies confirmed a signature butterfly-like amplitude and a phase loop. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a folded supramolecular π-system that manifests unidirectionally oriented dipoles and exhibits piezoelectricity, ferroelectricity, and has excellent ability to generate second harmonic light. These findings can herald new design possibilities based on folded architectures to explore opto-, electro- and mechano-responsive multifaceted functions.