Novel Multiferroic Cation Templated Hybrid Frameworks

Cation templated hybrid frameworks are novel crystalline structures which consist of metal ions that are linked by organic ligands to form one-, two-, or three-dimensional structures. Some of these materials show promising gas storage, optical, electrical, and magnetic properties to name few. One of the classes of these materials is ion templated hybrids in which the structure grows around the central ion. In the past we have synthesized different metal formates, templated by a dimethylamine cation. These hybrids have the ABX3 structure and same topology as those of perovskites. These novel structures are also multiferroic having both magnetic and ferroelectric properties simultaneously in the structure upon cooling. In this report, we present our findings on the formation of new hybrid frameworks having the same ABX 3 topology by varying the central cation and study its effect on the materials properties.