Achievement of a giant piezoelectric coefficient and piezoelectric voltage coefficient through plastic molecular-based ferroelectric materials

Summary

Piezoelectric generators (PEGs) converting mechanical energy into electricity are regarded as a promising power source for self-powered systems. Although piezoelectric materials with large piezoelectric (d₃₃) and piezoelectric voltage (g₃₃) coefficients are the key to their practical applications, how to obtain such materials is still a great challenge. Taking advantage of the well-defined structure of molecule-based compounds, this work demonstrates for the first time that both a large d₃₃ (∼ 226 pC N⁻¹) and g₃₃ (∼1,318 × 10⁻³ V m N⁻¹) can be achieved in a plastic molecule-based ferroelectric [(CH₃)₃NCH₂Cl][GaCl₄] (1). Significantly, PEGs built using 10 wt % 1 and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) exhibit excellent mechanical durability stability and possess good performance. Thus, the present work is not only very helpful to the rational design of piezoelectric materials with large d₃₃ and g₃₃ but also lays a solid foundation for the practical application of PEGs.