Dr. Wei Zhenhong Made Significant Progress in Antiperovskite Ferroelectric Studies

Recently, Dr. Wei Zhenhong together with Dr. Liao Weiqiang (from Jiangsu key laboratory of Molecular ferroelectricity Science and Appliance in Southeast University) and other research partners have made significant progress in Antiperovskite Ferroelectric studies, which verified the Ferroelectric characteristic of Antiperovskite (Image I) experimentally and solved the bottleneck problem in this field. The research achievement was published in Journal of the American Chemical Society titled “Discovery of an Antiperovskite Ferroelectric in [(CH3)3NH] 3(MnBr3) (MnBr4)”. The correspondent author of this treatise is Dr. Xiong Rengen, which used to be the doctoral supervisor of Dr. Wei Zhenhong and has close connection with the former in a long run. This is the first time for NCU to publish thesis in American Chemistry Journal as the first unit after its publishing in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Now, Dr. Liao Weiqiang has joined the International Academy of Science of Organic Chemistry in NCU and the research has won the Nation Science Foundation (No. 21427801, 21703033) and other supports.

Image I. (1) Structure and Category of Perovskite (2) Antiperovskite Ferroelectric [(CH3)3NH]3(MnBr3)(MnBr4) electric domain structure and  PFM hysteresis

   The research team took Curie’s principle of symmetry and Neumann’s Principle as the guiding principles. On the basis of molecular design and crystal engineering thought, they has invented the first [(CH3)3NH] 3(MnBr3) (MnBr4) in the world which made fully illustration of the Ferroelectric characteristic of Antiperovskite through hysteresis loops, PFM and so on. The Curie temperature reaches 458 K and shows excellent dielectric confinement effect. What’ s more, this kind of system has adjustable property, low-temperature manufacturing, flexible machine, light weight, low impedance and other inherent advantages, which demonstrate the prosperous future of the hybrid Antiperovskite and its popularity in ferroelectric storage and other high-tech fields. This research achievement represents a critical prelude of the development of Antiperovskite and injects new vitality into the traditional research of Antiperovskite, which will promote the continuous development of other functional Antiperovskite materials.

Treatise link: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.8b05037