Homochirality in Ferroelectrochemistry
Authors: Peng Hang , Qi Jun‐Chao , Liu Yu‐Si , Zhang Jia‐Mei , Liao Wei‐Qiang , Xiong Ren‐Gen 
Published: December 2023

What is the most favorite and original chemistry developed in your research group?

We originally proposed the design principle for molecular ferroelectrics: ferroelectrochemistry, including quasi‐spherical theory, the introduction of homochirality, and H/F substitution. Ferroelectrochemistry changed the blind search for molecular ferroelectrics into targeted chemical design, which will develop into a new discipline.

How do you get into this specific field? Could you please share some experiences with our readers?

I have been devoted to the field of molecular ferroelectrics for more than 20 years. In the early stage, I worked on non‐centrosymmetric metal‐organic complexes, which are potential molecular ferroelectrics. This laid a foundation for my further study of molecular ferroelectrics. Non‐centrosymmetric crystal symmetry is only one of the necessary requirements for ferroelectrics, which must adopt one of the 10 polar crystallographic point groups and should also generally undergo symmetry‐breaking phase transitions. Due to the lack of a feasible method, the discovery of molecular ferroelectrics has long depended on blindly searching. This process is like finding a needle in a haystack. After years of exploration in this field, I fully understood the Landau phase transition phenomenological theory, Curie symmetry, and Neumann principle from a chemical perspective, and proposed the design principle for molecular ferroelectrics: ferroelectrochemistry, transforming the discovery of molecular ferroelectrics from blind search to targeted chemical design. Never give up no matter how much difficulty you have met, because maybe there is an opportunity the next second.

What is the most important personality for scientific research?

Curiosity, divergent thinking, perseverance, team spirit, and gratitude.

How do you supervise your students?

Emphasis on independent problem‐solving abilities. Encourage students to read professional books frequently while doing research.

What are your hobbies? What’s your favorite book(s)?

Jogging, reading, and swimming. My favorite book is The Journey to the West.

Comprehensive Summary

Molecular ferroelectrics have attracted tremendous attention in the past decades due to their excellent ferroelectric performance and superiorities of easy processability, mechanical flexibility, and good biocompatibility. However, the discovery of molecular ferroelectrics is a great challenge and has long relied on blind search. This situation changed recently, with the development of ferroelectrochemistry proposed by our group. As a major design approach in ferroelectrochemistry, introducing homochirality, which facilitates the crystallization of materials in polar crystallographic point groups, greatly improves the probability of being ferroelectrics. Various new molecular ferroelectrics with splendid properties have been precisely synthesized by using this efficient and universal strategy. In this review, we summarize the advances in the chemical design of molecular ferroelectrics through the strategy of introducing homochirality.

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