CSUSB Center for Materials Science

University Enterprises Corporation At Csusb, San Bernardino CA

Investigators

Abstract

With National Science Foundation support and in response to the Materials Genome Initiative for Global Competitiveness, California State University San Bernardino will establish a Center for Materials Science to develop and study new organic ferroelectric materials. Although inorganic and organic polymeric ferroelectric materials are widely used, organic single molecule ferroelectrics have untapped potential for environmentally friendly materials with superior activity. Many of the known ferroelectrics have shortcomings with regard to applications, such as cost, toxicity, or limited electronic properties. While applications are not the main goal of the Center project, the computational models and experimental results should prove to be valuable tools in designing materials with desirable properties. Scientific Merit: The Center consists of a disciplinarily diverse research team whose collective goals are to develop and study new organic ferroelectric materials, while at the same time strengthening active research collaborations and personnel exchange between partner institutions. The Center's systematic search for new organic ferroelectrics relies on subproject teams in three distinct areas: (1) Theory and Computation; (2) Synthesis and Structure; and (3) Experimental Investigation. In the theory/computation subproject, crystallographic databases, first principles computations, and experience-based intuition will be used to predict likely candidates. The synthesis/structure team will prepare organic compounds, grow thin films, and explore polymorphic behavior of the crystalline materials. The experimental investigation team will then determine ferroelectric and related piezoelectric properties experimentally, as a function of temperature, pressure, film thickness, and composition, as appropriate. These results will be utilized in subsequent iterations to predict the next set of ferroelectric candidates. Broader Impact Ferroelectricity and the closely related properties piezoelectricity, pyroelectricity, non-linear and high dielectric constant properties of materials have broad impacts on an extremely large range of areas. These include: scientific instrumentation, consumer products, national defense, medical devices, energy harvesting, energy storage, robotics, and aerospace. These applications represent billions of dollars to the economy and many high tech jobs. With its numerous applications, this research provides an excellent entry point to attract, then retain, encourage and motivate students, including underrepresented students. The potential for replacing environmentally unfriendly materials such as one of the leading piezoelectric, lead zirconium titanate, with more environmentally friendly organic materials should be particularly appealing. Students will receive a wide range of training on research grade instrumentation, experience with specific computational packages, and gain hands-on experience in synthetic organic chemistry and general laboratory techniques and procedures. The proposed research collaborations will further enhance the professional development of faculty at CSUSB and the partner community colleges.