The field-induced antipolar-polar structural transition in an organic antiferroelectric 2-trifluoromethylnaphthimidazole crystal is investigated by performing synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The polarities of all of the hydrogen-bonded chains become parallel with each other in the presence of an external electric field. The switching is accompanied by a giant electrostriction, which provides 1 order of magnitude larger strain than the piezoelectric strain of the organic ferroelectrics: croconic acid and poly(vinylidene fluoride); however, it is comparable to those of typical commercial piezoelectric ceramics. The crystal structure analysis with electric field shows that the origin of the observed giant electrostriction can be attributed to the shear strain that emerges from the polarity switching of the hydrogen-bonded chains. The antipolar-polar structural transition in antiferroelectrics could be employed for the development of high-performance electrostrictive organic materials.

中文翻译：

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有机晶体中场致反极-极性结构转变和巨电致伸缩

通过执行同步加速器 X 射线衍射研究了有机反铁电 2-三氟甲基萘咪唑晶体中场诱导的反极性 - 极性结构转变。在存在外部电场的情况下，所有氢键链的极性变得彼此平行。转换伴随着巨大的电致伸缩，它提供的应变比有机铁电体的压电应变大 1 个数量级：克康酸和聚偏二氟乙烯；然而，它可以与典型的商用压电陶瓷相媲美。电场晶体结构分析表明，观察到的巨电致伸缩的起源可归因于氢键链极性转换产生的剪切应变。