Flexoelectricity

Flexoelectricity is a property of certain materials that causes them to generate an electric charge in response to a mechanical bending or deformation. This phenomenon is observed in a wide range of materials, including certain types of crystals, polymers, and biological tissues.

Overview

The term "flexoelectricity" was first coined by Meyer and Fukada in the 1960s to describe the electric polarization produced by mechanical strain gradients in dielectric materials. The flexoelectric effect is a third-rank tensor property, which means it is dependent on the direction of the applied strain and the material's crystallographic orientation.

Mechanism

The flexoelectric effect is a result of the coupling between the material's mechanical and electrical properties. When a material is deformed, the change in its shape causes a redistribution of the electric charges within it. This redistribution generates an electric field, which in turn produces an electric polarization. The magnitude of the flexoelectric effect is proportional to the gradient of the strain, and it is therefore more pronounced in materials with large strain gradients.

Applications

Flexoelectricity has potential applications in a variety of fields, including sensor technology, energy harvesting, and biomedical engineering. For example, flexoelectric materials could be used to create sensors that convert mechanical energy into electrical signals, or to develop devices that harvest energy from ambient mechanical vibrations. In the field of biomedical engineering, the flexoelectric effect has been observed in biological tissues such as bone and cartilage, suggesting potential applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

See also

• Piezoelectricity
• Electrostriction
• Ferroelectricity