Pyroelectric crystals are a class of polar materials and exhibit the temperature-dependent spontaneous polarization. Pyroelectrics have been playing an important role in the field of radiation energy detection, infrared detection and radiation configuration imaging for continuous wave signals, due to their potentials as thermal detectors with fast response and high-detecting sensitivity. Recent advancement of improper ferroelectrics reveals that the dielectric bistability is closely associated with the switchable polarization, and this kind of materials will be effective for the high-performance pyroelectric detection.
Recent studies led by Prof. LUO Junhua from Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter obtained a promising pyroelectric compound, showing the ultrahigh figures of merit for pyroelectric detectors induced by distinct bistable characteristic of dielectric properties.
Particularly, its pyroelectric figure of merits are found to exhibit a remarkable enhancement as transition temperature approaches, which are almost an order of magnitude larger than those of other materials, such as TGS and inorganic oxide ceramics of PMNT.
Furthermore, the origin of its spontaneous polarization and structural changes were revealed by the X-ray single-crystal diffraction, dielectric and pyroelectric measurements, etc. This finding suggests that improper ferroelectrics might provide the desirable alternatives as the smart pyroelectric detectors in certain special applications.
The study entitled “Ultrahigh pyroelectric figures of merit associated with distinct bistable dielectric phase transition in a new molecular compound: di-n-butylaminium trifluoroacetate” has been published online in Adanced. Materials.
Molecular pyroelectric crystals showing ultrahigh pyroelectric figures of merit（Image by Prof. LUO’s group）
Contact:
Prof. LUO Junhua
Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter,
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, P. R. China
E-mail: jhluo@fjirsm.ac.cn
