Room-Temperature Magnetoelectric Coupling in Electronic Ferroelectric Film based on [(-CH)N][FeFe(dto)] (dto = COS).

Great importance has been attached to magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroic thin films owing to their extremely practical use in a new generation of devices. Here, a film of [(-CH)N][FeFe(dto)] (; dto = COS) was fabricated using a simple stamping process. As was revealed by our experimental results, in-plane ferroelectricity over a wide temperature range from 50 to 300 K was induced by electron hopping between Fe and Fe sites. This mechanism was further confirmed by the ferroelectric observation of the compound [(-CH)N][FeZn(dto)] (; dto = COS), in which Fe ions were replaced by nonmagnetic metal Zn ions, resulting in no obvious ferroelectric polarization. However, both ferroelectricity and magnetism are related to the magnetic Fe ions, implying a strong magnetoelectric coupling in . Through piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), the observation of magnetoelectric coupling was achieved by manipulating ferroelectric domains under an in-plane magnetic field. The present work not only provides new insight into the design of molecular-based electronic ferroelectric/magnetoelectric materials but also paves the way for practical applications in a new generation of electronic devices.