Helical Columnar Supramolecular Polymers Exhibiting Both Polarization Retention and Ferroelectric Switching at Room Temperature

Ferroelectric functional materials with switchable bistable polarizations hold significant promise for high-density ferroelectric random-access memory (FeRAM) applications. However, developing organic systems that simultaneously exhibit uniform, non-decaying polarization arrangement and genuine ferroelectric switching at room temperature remains an elusive challenge. Herein, we report a novel strategy to realize a room-temperature-operable organic ferroelectric material based on 1D non-covalent supramolecular polymers. Our molecular design focuses on controlling the steric bulkiness of polar linkers within a C3-symmetric star-shaped architecture to direct the supramolecular polymerization. We successfully synthesized 1, which incorporates bulky polar 1,2,3-triazole linkers.Morphological analyses via variable-temperature bulk and 2D grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction revealed that 1 spontaneously undergoes 1D supramolecular polymerization into an asymmetric helical columnar structure that remains exceptionally stable from elevated temperatures down to room temperature. 2D XRD simulations confirmed that the supramolecular chains adopt a stable helical packing model. Temperature-dependent FT-IR verified that this highly ordered, asymmetric supramolecular polymer is efficiently locked and stabilized by strong, cooperative triazolyl hydrogen-bonded networks.Electrical measurements demonstrated excellent ferroelectric switching for this supramolecular polymer operable at room temperature. Most notably, due to the tight conformational restrictions imposed by the intracolumnar hydrogen-bonded matrix, the poled supramolecular state displays perfect retention of its axial macrodipole at zero electric field. Piezoelectric response profiles confirmed robust polarization retention under ambient conditions without any decay even over several months. This result offers a powerful paradigm for the development of next-generation, high-density organic non-volatile memory devices.