Press Release

Discovery of ferroelectricity and antiferroelectricity in imidazoles, building blocks in biological system such as vitamin B12

December 27, 2012

Overview

Benzimidazoles exhibit above-room-temperature ferroelectricity and antiferroelectricity with a high electric polarization. The discovery in members of a ubiquitous family of organic molecules reveals the possibility of novel low-cost electronic applications of lead- and rare-metal-free ferroelectrics.

Researcher Information

JST CREST Research Area "Creation of Innovative Functions of Intelligent Materials on the Basis of Element Strategy", Research Theme : "Creation of Materials Science for Advanced Ferroelectrics of Organic Compounds"

Journal Information

Published in "Nature Communications", online-only multidisciplinary scientific journal of Nature Publishing Group
Sachio Horiuchi, Fumitaka Kagawa, Kensuke Hatahara, Kensuke Kobayashi, Reiji Kumai, Youichi Murakami and Yoshinori Tokura　“Above-room-temperature ferroelectricity and antiferroelectricity in benzimidazoles”　Nature Communications　2012
Link to the article:
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v3/n12/full/ncomms2322.html

Contact

<About Research>
Sachio Horiuchi Ph D., s-horiuchi@aist.go.jp
Team Leader, Flexible Electronics Research Center, Flexible Organic Semiconductor Team, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
http://unit.aist.go.jp/flec/fos/english/index.html

Kumai Reiji Ph D , reiji.kumai@kek.jp
Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization
http://cmrc.kek.jp/english/index_eng.html

<About Program>
Green Innovation Group, Department of Innovation Research, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Masashi Furukawa, crest@jst.go.jp