Constructive and Destructive Interplay between Piezoelectricity and Flexoelectricity in Flexural Sensors and Actuators
Flexoelectricity is an electromechanical effect coupling polarization to strain gradients. It fundamentally differs from piezoelectricity because of its size-dependence and symmetry. Flexoelectricity is generally perceived as a small effect noticeable only at the nanoscale. Since ferroelectric ceramics have a particularly high flexoelectric coefficient, however, it may play a significant role as piezoelectric transducers shrink to the sub-micrometer scale. We examine this issue with a continuum model self-consistently treating piezo- and flexoelectricity.