Ferroelectric switching and retention performance of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) thin films improve by the incorporation of unmodified smectite montmorillonite (MMT) clay nanodielectric. In the present study, an intercalated PVDF (clay/PVDF) thin film with edge-on β-crystallite is fabricated via a heat-controlled spin coating (HCSC) technique. This provides an efficient and simple way to fabricate the edge-on oriented crystallite lamellae with an electroactive β-phase, facilitating nanoscale ferroelectric switching at a lower voltage compared to the face-on orientation. Here, we demonstrate the polarization retention for periods longer than 20 days (∼480 h, i.e., 1.8 × 10⁶ s), with no degradation in switched nanoscale domains. In addition, by maintaining the relatively high dielectric constant, the incorporation of nanoclay effectively lowers the leakage current by 10² factors. The obtained memory window in the edge-on orientation is 7 V, approximately twice the memory window obtained in the face-on orientation. In short, our findings provide a simple and promising route to fabricate edge-on oriented PVDF thin films, with ultralong retention, high dielectric constant, and improved leakage current.

中文翻译：

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通过 PVDF 薄膜中的插层控制分子取向：表现出超长保留和改进的漏电流

通过掺入未改性的蒙脱石 (MMT) 粘土纳米电介质，聚偏二氟乙烯 (PVDF) 薄膜的铁电开关和保留性能得到改善。在本研究中，通过热控旋涂（HCSC）技术制备了带有边缘β微晶的插层PVDF（粘土/PVDF）薄膜。这提供了一种高效且简单的方法来制造具有电活性β相的边缘取向微晶片层，与正面取向相比，有利于在较低电压下实现纳米级铁电开关。在这里，我们展示了超过 20 天（∼480 小时，即 1.8 × 10 ⁶ s）的偏振保持，并且切换纳米级域没有退化。此外，通过保持相对较高的介电常数，纳米粘土的掺入有效地将漏电流降低了10 ²倍。在侧向方向上获得的存储窗口为 7 V，大约是在正面方向上获得的存储窗口的两倍。简而言之，我们的研究结果提供了一种简单且有前途的方法来制造边缘取向的 PVDF 薄膜，该薄膜具有超长的保留时间、高介电常数和改善的漏电流。