Greatly enhanced energy density and patterned films induced by photo cross-linking of poly(vinylidene fluoride-chlorotrifluoroethylene).

Greatly enhanced energy density in poly(vinylidene fluoride-chlorotrifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-CTFE)] is realized through interface effects induced by a photo cross-linking method. Being different from nanocomposites with lowered dielectric strength, the cross-linked P(VDF-CTFE)s possess a high breakdown field as well as remarkably elevated polarization, both of which contribute to the enhanced energy density as high as 22.5 J · cm(-3). Moreover, patterned thin films with various shapes and sizes are fabricated by photolithography, which sheds new light on the integration of PVDF-based electroactive polymers into organic microelectronic devices such as flexible pyroelectric/piezoelectric sensor arrays or non-volatile ferroelectric memory devices.

Revisiting Newton's rings with a plasmonic optical flat for high-accuracy surface inspection.

Two parallel optical surfaces often exhibit colorful fringes along the lines of equal thickness because of the interference of light. This simple phenomenon allows one to observe subwavelength corrugations on a reflective surface by simply placing on it a flat reference dielectric surface, a so-called optical flat, and inspecting the resultant interference pattern. In this work, we extend this principle from dielectric surfaces to two-dimensional plasmonic nanostructures. Optical couplings between an Au nanodisk array and an Au thin film were measured quantitatively using two different techniques, namely, the classical Newton's rings method and a closed-loop nano-positioning system. Extremely high spectral sensitivity to the inter-surface distance was observed in the near-field coupling regime, where a 1-nm change in distance could alter the resonance wavelength by almost 10 nm, >40 times greater than the variation in the case without near-field coupling. With the help of a numerical fitting technique, the resonance wavelength could be determined with a precision of 0.03 nm, corresponding to a distance precision as high as 0.003 nm. Utilizing this effect, we demonstrated that a plasmonic nanodisk array can be utilized as a plasmonic optical flat, with which nanometer-deep grooves can be directly visualized using a low-cost microscope.

Ordered arrays of a defect-modified ferroelectric polymer for non-volatile memory with minimized energy consumption.

Ferroelectric polymers are among the most promising materials for flexible electronic devices. Highly ordered arrays of the defect-modified ferroelectric polymer P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) (poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofluoroethylene)) are fabricated by nanoimprint lithography for nonvolatile memory application. The defective CFE units reduce the coercive field to one-fifth of that of the un-modified P(VDF-TrFE), which can help minimize the energy consumption and extend the lifespan of the device. The nanoimprint process leads to preferable orientation of polymer chains and delicately controlled distribution of the defects, and thus a bi-stable polarization that makes the memory nonvolatile, as revealed by the pulsed polarization experiment.