NANOMECHANICAL, PIEZOELECTRIC AND FERROELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF MOLECULAR MATERIALS: FROM SELF-ORGANIZED BIOMACROMOLECULES TO SELF-ASSEMBLED METAL-ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS

Abstract

The realization of materials with the desired functionalities through a rational design strategy based on the chemical and physical features of each constituting building block becomes a burgeoning demand. Main results of this study are presented in two parts: i.e., nanomechanical, piezoelectric, ferroelectric properties of bone and metal-organic framework (MOF), including characterization of the structures and elasticity, piezoelectricity incorporated with molecular simulations, and ferroelectricity. The structures of bone and MOFs are characterized by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The elasticity of bone and MOFs are quantitatively mapped by bimodal amplitude modulated-frequency modulated (AM-FM) AFM. The piezoresponse of bone and MOFs are studied by Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM). While the Piezoresponse Force Spectroscopy (PFS) technique is used to characterize the ferroelectricity of bone and MOFs.