Rapid nanoimprinting and excellent piezoresponse of polymeric ferroelectric nanostructures

Nanostructured ferroelectric patterns are promising for a wide range of applications, including sensing and actuation, data storage, photonics, spintronics, and energy conversion and storage. In this work, a rapid nanoimprinting technique is developed to pattern ferroelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)] copolymers in just 3 min, which exhibit excellent ferroelectricity and piezoresponse without any post-imprinting annealing. The effects of imprinting conditions have been thoroughly investigated, and the optimal imprinting parameters for excellent pattern transfer have been identified. The application of the imprinted polymeric patterns as a ferroelectric nonvolatile memory for data storage has also been demonstrated and discussed.