Using multiphysics simulations and experiments, we demonstrate that dielectric breakdown due to electric charge accumulation can lead sufficient hotspot development leading the initiation of chemical reactions in P(VDF-TrFE)/nAl films comprising a poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) binder nano-aluminum particles. The field (E-field) material is driven by flexoelectric piezoelectric ...

We study the microscopic basis of bistable switching of a confined liquid crystal via Monte Carlo simulations of hard pear-shaped particles. Using both dielectric and dipolar field couplings to this intrinsically flexoelectric fluid, it is shown that pulsed fields of opposing polarity can be used to switch between the vertical and hybrid aligned states. Further, it is shown that the field-susce...

We report on the converse flexoelectric effect in two bent-core nematic liquid crystals with opposite dielectric anisotropies. The results are based on electro-optic investigations of inplane field-driven distortions in homeotropic samples (the Helfrich method). They are interpreted by an extension of the Helfrich theory that takes into account the higher order distortions. The bend flexocoeffi...

2014 From symmetry considerations it is possible to deduce that velocity gradients ought to induce electric polarizations in cholesteric liquid crystals. We show that flexoelectricity can be responsible for such a phenomenon. LE JOURNAL DE PHYSIQUE TOME 39, JUIN 1978, Classification Physics Abstracts 61.30 77.60

Through the suitable geometry of a repeating unit, metamaterial can exhibit property not present in base material. Here, we propose class low area-fraction, bending-dominated metamaterials that apparent piezoelectricity, even though material is piezoelectric. The proposed exploit universal electromechanical coupling operative at sub-micron scales, flexoelectricity, and upscale it to macro-scale...

The ability of certain materials to convert electrical stimuli into mechanical deformation, and vice versa, is a prized property. Not surprisingly, applications of such so-called piezoelectric materials are broad—ranging from energy harvesting to self-powered sensors. In this perspective, written in the form of question-answers, we highlight a relatively understudied electromechanical coupling ...