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Racemic Amino Acid Piezoelectric Transducer
Sarah Guerin1,2, Joseph O'Donnell1,2, Ehtsham U Haq1,2
1Department of Physics, University of Limerick, Limerick V94 T9PX, Ireland.
Physical Review Letters
|February 16, 2019
Summary
DL-alanine crystals show significant piezoelectric voltage, proving molecular chirality isn't required for organic crystal piezoelectricity. These findings open doors for novel biosensors and electronic devices.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Crystallography
- Organic Electronics
Background:
- Single crystal L-amino acids possess piezoelectric and nonlinear optical properties.
- Understanding piezoelectricity in amino acids is crucial for developing novel organic electronic materials.
Purpose of the Study:
- To predict and measure the piezoelectric properties of DL-alanine single crystals and polycrystalline aggregates.
- To investigate if molecular chirality is essential for piezoelectric behavior in organic crystals.
Main Methods:
- Density functional theory (DFT) modeling to predict piezoelectric tensors.
- Macroscopic and nanoscopic piezoelectric measurements on DL-alanine crystals.
- Fabrication of DL-alanine crystal films for voltage generation tests.
Main Results:
- Predicted and measured piezoelectric charge, strain, and voltage tensors for DL-alanine.
- Demonstrated voltage generation up to 0.8 V from DL-alanine crystal films under compression, exceeding other amino acid crystals.
- Established that net molecular chirality is not a prerequisite for piezoelectricity in organic crystals.
Conclusions:
- DL-alanine exhibits significant piezoelectric properties, making it a promising material for organic electronics.
- The study challenges the necessity of molecular chirality for piezoelectricity in organic crystals.
- DL-alanine crystals are suitable for applications in biosensors, data storage, and energy harvesting devices.
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