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Current research on ferroelectric polymers centers predominantly on poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)–based fluoropolymers because of their superior performance. However, they are considered “forever chemicals” with environmental concerns. We describe a family of rationally designed fluorine-free ferroelectric polymers, featuring a polyoxypropylene main chain and disulfonyl alkyl side chains with a C3 spacer: −SO₂CH₂CHRCH₂SO₂− (R = −H or −CH₃). Both experimental and simulation results demonstrate that strong dipole-dipole interactions between neighboring disulfonyl groups induce ferroelectric ordering in the condensed state, which can be tailored by changing the R group: ferroelectric for R = −H or relaxor ferroelectric for R = −CH₃. At low electric fields, the relaxor polymer exhibits electroactuation and electrocaloric performance comparable with those of state-of-the-art PVDF-based tetrapolymers. 

A key component of cooling devices is the transfer of entropy from the cold load to heat sink. An electrocaloric (EC) polymer capable of generating both large electrocaloric effect (ECE) and substantial electroactuation can enable EC cooling devices to pump heat without external mechanisms, resulting in compact designs and enhanced efficiency. However, achieving both high ECE and significant electroactuation remains challenging. Herein, it is demonstrated that poly(vinylidene fluoride‐trifluoroethylene‐chlorofluoroethylene‐double bond) [P(VDF‐TrFE‐CFE‐DB)] tetrapolymers can simultaneously generate high electrocaloric effects and electroactuations under low fields. These P(VDF‐TrFE‐CFE‐DB) tetrapolymers are synthesized through the dehydrochlorination of P(VDF‐TrFE‐CFE) terpolymer. By facile tuning the composition of the initial terpolymer to avoid pure relaxor state, tetrapolymers with optimal DB compositions are achieved, near the critical endpoint of normal ferroelectric phase with diffused phase transition. The nearly vanishing energy barriers between the nonpolar to polar phases result in a strong electrocaloric response and significant electroactuation. Specifically, the P(VDF‐TrFE‐CFE‐DB) tetrapolymer exhibits an EC entropy change ΔSof 100 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹under 100 MV m⁻¹: comparable to state‐of‐the‐art (SOA) EC polymers, while delivering nearly twice the electroactuation of the SOA EC polymers. This work presents a general strategy for developing EC materials that combine large electrocaloric effect and electroactuation at low electric fields. 

Ferroelectric materials are currently some of the most widely applied material systems and are constantly generating improved functions with higher efficiencies. Advancements in poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)–based polymer ferroelectrics provide flexural, coupling-efficient, and multifunctional material platforms for applications that demand portable, lightweight, wearable, and durable features. We highlight the recent advances in fluoropolymer ferroelectrics, their energetic cross-coupling effects, and emerging technologies, including wearable, highly efficient electromechanical actuators and sensors, electrocaloric refrigeration, and dielectric devices. These developments reveal that the molecular and nanostructure manipulations of the polarization-field interactions, through facile defect biasing, could introduce enhancements in the physical effects that would enable the realization of multisensory and multifunctional wearables for the emerging immersive virtual world and smart systems for a sustainable future. 

An improved polymer has properties that make it competitive with commercially available ceramic piezoelectrics. 

This Letter reports the first measurement of the oscillation amplitude and frequency of reactor antineutrinos at Daya Bay via neutron capture on hydrogen using 1958 days of data. With over 3.6 million signal candidates, an optimized candidate selection, improved treatment of backgrounds and efficiencies, refined energy calibration, and an energy response model for the capture-on-hydrogen sensitive region, the relative ${\overline{\nu }}_e$rates and energy spectra variation among the near and far detectors gives ${\sin }^{2}2{\theta }_{13}=0.0759_{-0.0049}^{+0.0050}$and $\mathrm{\Delta }{m}_{32}^2=\left(2.72_{-0.15}^{+0.14}\right)\times {10}^{-3}{\mathrm{eV}}^2$assuming the normal neutrino mass ordering, and $\mathrm{\Delta }{m}_{32}^2=(-2.83_{-0.14}^{+0.15})\times {10}^{-3}{\mathrm{eV}}^2$for the inverted neutrino mass ordering. This estimate of ${\sin }^{2}2{\theta }_{13}$is consistent with and essentially independent from the one obtained using the capture-on-gadolinium sample at Daya Bay. The combination of these two results yields ${\sin }^{2}2{\theta }_{13}=0.0833\pm 0.0022$, which represents an 8% relative improvement in precision regarding the Daya Bay full 3158-day capture-on-gadolinium result. Published by the American Physical Society2024