Ferroelectricity originating from polar moiety flipping

Abstract: A wide variety of applications has inspired great interest in designing new materials and investigating fundamental physics in the ferroelectric field. In the concept of ferroelectricity, the spontaneous polarization is traditionally considered a core property, but we find that the `spontaneous' seems unnecessary. Based on this understanding, we suggest a new type of ferroelectric materials, in which the polar atomic moiety is incorporated to realize the electric polarization and the polar atomic moiety flipping corresponds to the reversal of electric polarization. Lead hydroxyapatite Pb$_{10}$(PO$_4$)$_6$(OH)$_2$ containing polar OH moieties is taken as an example to illustrate our idea, in which the OH moiety flipping result in the reversal of electric polarization. The mechanism of ferroelectricity reported herein distinctly differs from those of the displacive type, disorder-order type, and interlayer sliding type ferroelectric materials in the previous studies.