Morphology and piezoelectric characterization of thin films and microcrystals of ortho-carboranyl derivatives of (S)-glutamine and (S)-asparagine

Local morphological features and piezoelectric properties of films and bulk crystals of ortho-carboranyl derivatives of (S)-asparagine and (S)-glutamine have been investigated at nanoscale by atomic force and piezoresponse force microscopies. Both films and bulk crystals of the studied compounds demonstrated a very high piezoelectric response exceeding that of lithium niobate. The crystal structure has been studied by single crystal X-ray diffraction.