Local Piezoelectric Properties of Doped Biomolecular Crystals

Piezoelectricity is the ability of certain crystals to generate mechanical strain proportional to an external electric field. Though many biomolecular crystals contain polar molecules, they are frequently centrosymmetric, signifying that the dipole moments of constituent molecules cancel each other....

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Main Authors: Andrei Kholkin, Denis Alikin, Vladimir Shur, Shiri Dishon, David Ehre, Igor Lubomirsky
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-08-01
Series:Materials
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/14/17/4922
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spelling doaj-db2ba2c702704ca79937be4db9c195c92021-09-09T13:51:08ZengMDPI AGMaterials1996-19442021-08-01144922492210.3390/ma14174922Local Piezoelectric Properties of Doped Biomolecular CrystalsAndrei Kholkin0Denis Alikin1Vladimir Shur2Shiri Dishon3David Ehre4Igor Lubomirsky5School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ural Federal University, 620000 Ekaterinburg, RussiaSchool of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ural Federal University, 620000 Ekaterinburg, RussiaSchool of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ural Federal University, 620000 Ekaterinburg, RussiaDepartment of Molecular Chemistry and Materials Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Herzl St 234, Rehovot 7610001, IsraelDepartment of Molecular Chemistry and Materials Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Herzl St 234, Rehovot 7610001, IsraelDepartment of Molecular Chemistry and Materials Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Herzl St 234, Rehovot 7610001, IsraelPiezoelectricity is the ability of certain crystals to generate mechanical strain proportional to an external electric field. Though many biomolecular crystals contain polar molecules, they are frequently centrosymmetric, signifying that the dipole moments of constituent molecules cancel each other. However, piezoelectricity can be induced by stereospecific doping leading to symmetry reduction. Here, we applied piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), highly sensitive to local piezoelectricity, to characterize <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mn>0</mn><mover accent="true"><mn>1</mn><mo>¯</mo></mover><mn>0</mn></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> faces of a popular biomolecular material, α-glycine, doped with other amino acids such as L-alanine and L-threonine as well as co-doped with both. We show that, while apparent vertical piezoresponse is prone to parasitic electrostatic effects, shear piezoelectric activity is strongly affected by doping. Undoped α-glycine shows no shear piezoelectric response at all. The shear response of the L-alanine doped crystals is much larger than those of the L-threonine doped crystals and co-doped crystals. These observations are rationalized in terms of host–guest molecule interactions.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/14/17/4922α-glycinepiezoelectricitydopingpiezoresponse force microscopy
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Andrei Kholkin
Denis Alikin
Vladimir Shur
Shiri Dishon
David Ehre
Igor Lubomirsky
spellingShingle Andrei Kholkin
Denis Alikin
Vladimir Shur
Shiri Dishon
David Ehre
Igor Lubomirsky
Local Piezoelectric Properties of Doped Biomolecular Crystals
Materials
α-glycine
piezoelectricity
doping
piezoresponse force microscopy
author_facet Andrei Kholkin
Denis Alikin
Vladimir Shur
Shiri Dishon
David Ehre
Igor Lubomirsky
author_sort Andrei Kholkin
title Local Piezoelectric Properties of Doped Biomolecular Crystals
title_short Local Piezoelectric Properties of Doped Biomolecular Crystals
title_full Local Piezoelectric Properties of Doped Biomolecular Crystals
title_fullStr Local Piezoelectric Properties of Doped Biomolecular Crystals
title_full_unstemmed Local Piezoelectric Properties of Doped Biomolecular Crystals
title_sort local piezoelectric properties of doped biomolecular crystals
publisher MDPI AG
series Materials
issn 1996-1944
publishDate 2021-08-01
description Piezoelectricity is the ability of certain crystals to generate mechanical strain proportional to an external electric field. Though many biomolecular crystals contain polar molecules, they are frequently centrosymmetric, signifying that the dipole moments of constituent molecules cancel each other. However, piezoelectricity can be induced by stereospecific doping leading to symmetry reduction. Here, we applied piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), highly sensitive to local piezoelectricity, to characterize <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mn>0</mn><mover accent="true"><mn>1</mn><mo>¯</mo></mover><mn>0</mn></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> faces of a popular biomolecular material, α-glycine, doped with other amino acids such as L-alanine and L-threonine as well as co-doped with both. We show that, while apparent vertical piezoresponse is prone to parasitic electrostatic effects, shear piezoelectric activity is strongly affected by doping. Undoped α-glycine shows no shear piezoelectric response at all. The shear response of the L-alanine doped crystals is much larger than those of the L-threonine doped crystals and co-doped crystals. These observations are rationalized in terms of host–guest molecule interactions.
topic α-glycine
piezoelectricity
doping
piezoresponse force microscopy
url https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/14/17/4922
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