FLEXOELECTRIC COMPOSITE — A NEW PROSPECT FOR LEAD-FREE PIEZOELECTRICS

Flexoelectricity describes the physical phenomenon of the generation of electric polarization from mechanical strain gradient in solid insulators. In common dielectric materials, the flexoelectric coefficient is trivially small ~10 -10 C/m. In Ba(Sr,Ti)O 3 (BST) ceramics, flexoelectric coefficient up to 10 -4 C/m was observed. Such high coefficient makes it possible to design high piezoelectric response flexoelectric composites. In this letter, we will demonstrate that the newly designed flexoelectric composites could have piezoelectric properties better than conventional piezoelectric materials.