Converse flexoelectricity yields large piezoresponse force microscopy signals in non-piezoelectric materials

Converse flexoelectricity is a mechanical stress induced by an electric polarization gradient. It can appear in any material, irrespective of symmetry, whenever there is an inhomogeneous electric field distribution. This situation invariably happens in piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), which is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 1266 - 6
Main Authors: Abdollahi, Amir, Domingo, Neus, Arias, Irene, Catalan, Gustau
Format: Journal Article Publication
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 20.03.2019
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects:
147/3
639/301/119/995
639/925/930/328/1262
70 Mechanics of particles and systems
70F Dynamics of a system of particles, including celestial mechanics
70Q05 Control of mechanical systems
90 Operations research, mathematical programming
90B Operations research and management science
Anàlisi numèrica
Atomic force microscopes
Atomic force microscopy
Automatic control
Classificació AMS
Control automàtic
Dinàmica
Dynamics
Electric polarization
Ferroelectricity
Humanities and Social Sciences
Inhomogeneous electric fields
Investigació operativa
Matemàtica aplicada a les ciències
Matemàtiques i estadística
Microscopes
Microscopy
multidisciplinary
Mètodes numèrics
Operations research
Piezoelectricity
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Simulació
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC
ISSN:2041-1723, 2041-1723
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Converse flexoelectricity is a mechanical stress induced by an electric polarization gradient. It can appear in any material, irrespective of symmetry, whenever there is an inhomogeneous electric field distribution. This situation invariably happens in piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), which is a technique whereby a voltage is delivered to the tip of an atomic force microscope in order to stimulate and probe piezoelectricity at the nanoscale. While PFM is the premier technique for studying ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity at the nanoscale, here we show, theoretically and experimentally, that large effective piezoelectric coefficients can be measured in non-piezoelectric dielectrics due to converse flexoelectricity. Piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) is widely used to study piezoelectric properties of materials. Here, the authors not only show that PFM measurements will yield a signal even in non-piezoelectric materials via induced flexoelectricity, but also introduce a protocol to distinguish these from real signals.
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ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-019-09266-y