Research Papers in Physics and Astronomy
Date of this Version
October 2004
Abstract
The structure and local structural distortions, through the polarization manipulation, of crystalline films of ferroelectric vinylidene fluoride (70%) with trifluoroethylene (30%) [P(VDF-TrFE)] copolymer on graphite were studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). A quasispiral twist in C[Single Bond]C bonds with rotations about the polymer chain axis was observed by high-resolution STM, indicating a surface relaxation of the strained copolymer films. Such a relaxation behavior appears to be linked to the observed local dipole rotations accompanied by the reversal of the local polarization with biasing the STM tip. A structure model is proposed based upon the observations
Comments
Published in Physical Review B 70, 155411 (2004) (7 pages)
URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v70/e155411 doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.70.155411 Copyright 2004 American Physical Society. Used by permission.