Surface Piezoelectricity and Pyroelectricity in Centrosymmetric Materials: A Case of α-Glycine

Surface pyroelectricity and piezoelectricity induced by water incorporation during growth in α-glycine were investigated. Using the periodic temperature change technique, we have determined the thickness (~280 µm) of the near surface layer (NSL) and its pyroelectric coefficient (160 pC/(K × cm²) at 23 °C) independently. The thickness of NSL remains nearly constant till 60 °C and the pyroelectric effect vanishes abruptly by 70 °C. The piezoelectric effect, 0.1 pm/V at 23 °C measured with an interferometer, followed the same temperature dependence as the pyroelectric effect. Abrupt disappearance of both effects at 70 °C is irreversible and suggests that water incorporation to α-glycine forms a well defined near surface phase, which is different form α-glycine because it is polar but it too close to α-glycine to be distinguished by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The secondary pyroelectric effect was found to be <14% of the total, which is unexpectedly small for a material with a large thermal expansion coefficient. This implies that water incorporation infers minimal distortions in the host lattice. This finding suggests a path for the control of the piezoelectric and pyroelectric effects of the crystals using stereospecific incorporation of the guest molecules.