Two-dimensional Fullerene-Based Ferroelectric Materials: Assembly and Effects on Charge Carrier Lifetime

Manipulating the symmetry of fullerene-based low-dimensional materials is crucial to the development of electronic devices and modern nonvolatile memories. However, there have been few reports on studying the physicochemical properties of fullerene and its derivatives by controlling the symmetries. Herein, we demonstrate ferroelectricity in Sc₃N@I_h-C₈₀-Pd/Pt adducts with relatively strong spontaneous polarization. Polarization originates from subtle molecular interactions between Sc₃N@I_h-C₈₀ and Pd/Pt atoms, breaking the structural symmetry. Additionally, we investigate how a temperature-dependent polar-nonpolar phase transition affects the corresponding nonadiabatic electron-hole recombination process in the ferroelectric fullerene adduct Sc₃N@I_h-C₈₀-Pd. The results indicate that polarization has a greater impact than temperature effects, resulting in an extension of the carrier lifetime in the polar phase by over 3 times compared to that in the nonpolar phase. Our findings unveil new members of the ferroelectric fullerene family and provide guidance for improving the performance of optoelectronic materials.