Physicochemical Properties of Organic Molecular Ferroelectric Diisopropylammonium Chloride Thin Films

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 7; p. 1200
• Main Authors: Alsaad, Ahmad M., Al-Bataineh, Qais M., Qattan, Issam A., Aljarrah, Ihsan A., Bani-Salameh, Areen A., Ahmad, Ahmad A., Albiss, Borhan A., Telfah, Ahmad, Sabirianov, Renat F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 28.03.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Activation energy; Chloride; Chlorides; Data storage; Density of states; Dielectric films; Dielectric properties; Diffraction; diisopropylammonium chloride (DIPAC) structural; Dip coatings; electric polarization; Electric properties; electrical; Electrical conductivity; Electrical resistivity; Electronic devices; Ferroelectric materials; Ferroelectricity; Ferroelectrics; Fourier transforms; FTIR; Glass substrates; Hydrochloric acid; Immersion coating; Infrared analysis; Mathematical analysis; Microelectromechanical systems; optical; Optical properties; Optoelectronics; Organic chemistry; Perovskites; Phase transitions; Physical properties; Physicochemical properties; Piezoelectricity; Scanning electron microscopy; SEM; Simulation; Spectrum analysis; Temperature; Thermal energy; Thin films; X-ray diffraction; X-rays; United States > US; Germany; ab initio calculations; FTIR; diisopropylammonium chloride (DIPAC) structural; electric polarization; electrical; SEM; optical
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano13071200

We fabricated ferroelectric films of the organic molecular diisopropylammonium chloride (DIPAC) using the dip-coating technique and characterized their properties using various methods. Fourier-transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the structural features of the films. We also performed ab-initio calculations to investigate the electronic and polar properties of the DIPAC crystal, which were found to be consistent with the experimental results. In particular, the optical band gap of the DIPAC crystal was estimated to be around 4.5 eV from the band structure total density-of-states obtained by HSE06 hybrid functional methods, in good agreement with the value derived from the Tauc plot analysis (4.05 ± 0.16 eV). The films displayed an island-like morphology on the surface and showed increasing electrical conductivity with temperature, with a calculated thermal activation energy of 2.24 ± 0.03 eV. Our findings suggest that DIPAC films could be a promising alternative to lead-based perovskites for various applications such as piezoelectric devices, optoelectronics, sensors, data storage, and microelectromechanical systems.