Room Temperature Single-Component Organic Multiferroics with Large Magnetoelectric Coupling: Proficient Approach for...

Magnetoelectric materials are highly desirable for technological applications due to their ability to produce electricity under a magnetic field. Among the various types of magnetoelectric materials studied, their organic counterparts provide an opportunity to develop solution-processable, flexible, lightweight, and wearable electronic devices. However, there is a rare choice of solution-processable, flexible, lightweight magnetoelectric materials which has tremendous technological interest. A supramolecular scaffold with precisely positioned structure-forming and functional units (electrical dipoles and magnetic spins) is designed so that self-assembly results in functional unit organization. Structure-forming segments allow these scaffolds to self-assemble into hierarchically ordered structures in nonpolar solvents, creating nanofibrous organogel networks. In particular, the xerogel derived from this organogel exhibits the highest magnetoelectric coupling coefficient (α_ME ≈ 216 mV Oe^-1 cm^-1) reported to date for organic materials. This is even greater than commonly envisioned composite materials made of piezoelectric polymers and inorganic magnets. This single-component organic multiferroic material displays ferroelectricity (T_c ≈ 46 °C) and paramagnetic behavior at room temperature. With this, it is demonstrated that the possibilities of effectively harvesting stray magnetic fields that are copiously available in the surroundings and wasted otherwise.