Phytoene synthase

Template:Ref improve Flexoelectricity is a property of a dielectric material whereby it exhibits a spontaneous electrical polarization induced by a strain gradient. Flexoelectricity is not the same as Ferroelasticity.

The electric polarization due to mechanical stress in a dielectric is given by:

$P_i=d_{ijk}{\sigma }_{jk}+{\mu }_{ijkl}\frac{\partial {ϵ}_{jk}}{\partial x_l}$

where the first term corresponds to the direct piezoelectric effect and the second term corresponds to the flexoelectric polarization induced by the strain gradient.

Here, the flexoelectric coefficient, ${\mu }_{ijkl}$, is a fourth-rank polar tensor and $d_{ijk}$ is the coefficient corresponding to the direct piezoelectric effect.

See also

• Piezoelectricity
• Ferroelectricity
• Ferroelasticity

External links

• Introduction to Flexoelectricity