Ferroelectricity of pyridinium perchlorate, a molecular level point of view

The behavior of ferroelectric and thermodynamic parameters of pyridinium perchlorate (PyClO(4)) was simulated based on experimental NMR data and properties of the individual constituting ions. Dynamic (2)H NMR spectroscopy was used to investigate the order-disorder character of ferroelectricity in PyClO(4). Quadrupole echo and inversion recovery experiments were performed in the range from 140 to 300 K. The spectra can be simulated by a rotational jump motion of the pyridinium cations about their pseudo-C(6) axis. This confirms that the ferroelectricity of this compound below a first-order phase transition at 248 K is primarily due to the ordering of cations along a ferroelectric axis. In an intermediate phase between 248 and 233 K, the cation-anion sublattice displacement mechanism also gives a small positive contribution to ferroelectricity. In the family of the ferroelectric pyridinium salts, the paraelectric-ferroelectric phase transition temperature increases with the size and polarizability of the constituting anions, suggesting that the main interaction for ferroelectric ordering occurs via an indirect superexchange mechanism, whereas in compounds with small anions of low polarizability the direct dipole-dipole interaction dominates and leads to antiferroelectric order.