Electrospun fibers with axially polarized ferroelectric nematic core

Electrospun fibers with axially polarized ferroelectric nematic core | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Electrospun fibers with axially polarized ferroelectric nematic core Tom Ott, Pierre Nacke, Betül Kücüköz, George Zograf, Timur Shegai, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8902071/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The recent discovery of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals (FNLCs) has led to exciting ferroelectric materials which combine polar long-range orientational order and giant spontaneous electric polarization Ps with 3D fluidity. While this fluidity opens completely new perspectives for the directional control of Ps in space and time, it also requires the confinement of FNLC materials. In this context, we investigate whether and how ferroelectric nematics might be confined as a cylindrical core in a hollow polymer fiber by coaxial electrospinning and whether the ferroelectric order is preserved in this process. We find that it is, in fact, exceptionally easy to spin fibers with a continuous FNLC core, because the polarization stiffening effect counteracts the Plateau-Rayleigh instability which breaks up many simpler core liquids into droplets. Polarization-resolved second-harmonic generation (SHG) measurements reveal that the polar order is preserved in the cylindrical fiber core. While in thin fibers with a core diameter on the order of 1 μm, Ps is uniformly aligned along the fiber axis, we find a twist of Ps along the diameter in thicker fibers. The latter observation is analyzed in light of the current debate on the twisted ground states of ferroelectric nematics. Our study shows that the quasi-1D confinement of FNLCs by coaxial electrospinning leads to novel macroscopically polar fibers, which offer new research opportunities and might be an important step toward application in, e.g., actuators or energy harvesting devices. Physical sciences/Materials science Physical sciences/Physics ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal coaxial electrospinning cylindrical confinement second harmonic generation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryinformationFNLCfibers.docx VideoSpinningFNLC919.mp4 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 10 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 08 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 08 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 05 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 26 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 20 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 19 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 17 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8902071","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":598264146,"identity":"e584af52-578c-461a-860d-9adec2194154","order_by":0,"name":"Tom Ott","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Stuttgart","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tom","middleName":"","lastName":"Ott","suffix":""},{"id":598264147,"identity":"cc7cc884-89e6-417e-86fa-0c41b0e3ba39","order_by":1,"name":"Pierre Nacke","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Stuttgart","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Pierre","middleName":"","lastName":"Nacke","suffix":""},{"id":598264148,"identity":"6c6815a9-2e75-49cb-82a9-a1bd67307430","order_by":2,"name":"Betül Kücüköz","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chalmers University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Betül","middleName":"","lastName":"Kücüköz","suffix":""},{"id":598264149,"identity":"486dcdc8-b86d-40ae-925e-8f913e41f971","order_by":3,"name":"George Zograf","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chalmers University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"George","middleName":"","lastName":"Zograf","suffix":""},{"id":598264150,"identity":"e56b336b-cbef-4001-824c-a4868f000dbc","order_by":4,"name":"Timur Shegai","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chalmers University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Timur","middleName":"","lastName":"Shegai","suffix":""},{"id":598264151,"identity":"1482ef9b-3551-4212-8e28-6ed6e77b06ac","order_by":5,"name":"Frank Giesselmann","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Stuttgart","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Frank","middleName":"","lastName":"Giesselmann","suffix":""},{"id":598264152,"identity":"d6e678d7-4aa0-4377-8ad8-d3e03bd625f6","order_by":6,"name":"Jan P. 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While\nthis fluidity opens completely new perspectives for the directional control of\nPs in space and time, it also requires the confinement of FNLC materials. In\nthis context, we investigate whether and how ferroelectric nematics might be\nconfined as a cylindrical core in a hollow polymer fiber by coaxial electrospinning\nand whether the ferroelectric order is preserved in this process. We find\nthat it is, in fact, exceptionally easy to spin fibers with a continuous FNLC\ncore, because the polarization stiffening effect counteracts the Plateau-Rayleigh\ninstability which breaks up many simpler core liquids into droplets. Polarization-resolved\nsecond-harmonic generation (SHG) measurements reveal that the polar\norder is preserved in the cylindrical fiber core. While in thin fibers with a core \ndiameter on the order of 1 μm, Ps is uniformly aligned along the fiber axis, we\nfind a twist of Ps along the diameter in thicker fibers. The latter observation\nis analyzed in light of the current debate on the twisted ground states of ferroelectric\nnematics. Our study shows that the quasi-1D confinement of FNLCs by\ncoaxial electrospinning leads to novel macroscopically polar fibers, which offer\nnew research opportunities and might be an important step toward application\nin, e.g., actuators or energy harvesting devices.","manuscriptTitle":"Electrospun fibers with axially polarized ferroelectric nematic core","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-02 17:11:04","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8902071/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-03-10T05:08:03+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-08T12:47:05+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-08T08:39:00+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-05T13:52:18+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"141609233903937256303751506908011542596","date":"2026-02-27T10:22:53+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"237921168090185233459343401315210926552","date":"2026-02-27T09:32:49+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"91468648747877858494630392909231962079","date":"2026-02-26T05:55:25+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-02-26T05:01:37+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-02-21T04:19:16+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-02-20T03:54:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"npj Soft Matter","date":"2026-02-17T14:30:48+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"npj-soft-matter","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"Learn more about [npj Soft Matter](https://www.nature.com/npjsoftmat/)","snPcode":"44431","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/44431/3","title":"npj Soft Matter","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"NPJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"811120f9-c6bc-4a85-86f3-32abb4243529","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 2nd, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":63668139,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science"},{"id":63668140,"name":"Physical sciences/Physics"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-06T01:09:20+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-02 17:11:04","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8902071","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8902071","identity":"rs-8902071","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}