Ferroelectrics: Ferroelectrics as Smart Mechanical Materials (Adv. Mater. 37/2017)

In article number 1702210, Kumara Cordero-Edwards, Gustau Catalan, and co-workers demonstrate that the mechanical indentation response of a piezoelectric crystal can be changed just by turning it upside down – or, if it is ferroelectric, by switching its polar axis with an external voltage. Thus, in addition to already being smart functional materials, this discovery places ferroelectrics as "smart mechanical materials". Image credit: Dámaso Torres, ICN2.

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