Modeling flexoelectricity in soft dielectrics at finite deformation

Codony, David; Gupta, Prakhar; Marco, Onofre; Arias, Irene

doi:10.1016/j.jmps.2020.104182

Cited by 30 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 103 publications

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“…The phenomenological theory of flexoelectricity with various degrees of sophistication and nuances, appears to be now well-developed (e.g. (32,53,54)). In the context of soft matter, a first attempt appeared in (51) and we highlight a more recent paper by (54) that is specifically targeted towards proper accounting for large deformations and the correct interpretation of the flexoelectric matter property tensor for large deformations.…”

Section: R a F Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(32,53,54)). In the context of soft matter, a first attempt appeared in (51) and we highlight a more recent paper by (54) that is specifically targeted towards proper accounting for large deformations and the correct interpretation of the flexoelectric matter property tensor for large deformations. Significant efforts have also been expended towards computational approaches (e.g.…”

Section: R a F Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Significant efforts have also been expended towards computational approaches (e.g. (54)(55)(56)(57)). At the other end of the scale-spectrum, extensive research has also ensued on the microscopic underpinnings of the phenomenon.…”

Section: R a F Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Flexoelectricity in soft elastomers and the molecular mechanisms underpinning the design and emergence of giant flexoelectricity

Grasinger

Mozaffari

Sharma

2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Soft robotics requires materials that are capable of large deformation and amenable to actuation with external stimuli such as electric fields. Energy harvesting, biomedical devices, flexible electronics, and sensors are some other applications enabled by electroactive soft materials. The phenomenon of flexoelectricity is an enticing alternative that refers to the development of electric polarization in dielectrics when subjected to strain gradients. In particular, flexoelectricity offers a direct linear coupling between a highly desirable deformation mode (flexure) and electric stimulus. Unfortunately, barring some exceptions, the flexoelectric effect is quite weak and rather substantial bending curvatures are required for an appreciable electromechanical response. Most experiments in the literature appear to confirm modest flexoelectricity in polymers although perplexingly, a singular work has measured a “giant” effect in elastomers under some specific conditions. Due to the lack of an understanding of the microscopic underpinnings of flexoelectricity in elastomers and a commensurate theory, it is not currently possible to either explain the contradictory experimental results on elastomers or pursue avenues for possible design of large flexoelectricity. In this work, we present a statistical-mechanics theory for the emergent flexoelectricity of elastomers consisting of polar monomers. The theory is shown to be valid in broad generality and leads to key insights regarding both giant flexoelectricity and material design. In particular, the theory shows that, in standard elastomer networks, combining stretching and bending is a mechanism for obtaining giant flexoelectricity, which also explains the aforementioned, surprising experimental discovery.

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Section: R a F Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: R a F Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flexoelectricity in soft elastomers and the molecular mechanisms underpinning the design and emergence of giant flexoelectricity

Grasinger

Mozaffari

Sharma

2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The proposed methodology can also be easily extended to other flexoelectricity models explicitly accounting for converse flexoelectricity and gradient dielectricity, [30][31][32] as well as finite deformations. 33,34 Generalization to other high-order problems is also straightforward.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weak enforcement of interface continuity and generalized periodicity in high‐order electromechanical problems

Barceló-Mercader

Codony

Fernández‐Méndez

et al. 2021

Numerical Meth Engineering

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We present a formulation for the weak enforcement of continuity conditions at material interfaces in high-order problems by means of Nitsche's method, which is particularly suited for unfitted discretizations. This formulation is extended to impose generalized periodicity conditions at the unit cell boundaries of periodic structures. The formulation is derived for flexoelectricity, a high-order electromechanical coupling between strain gradient and electric field, mathematically modeled as a coupled system of fourth-order PDEs. The design of flexoelectric devices requires the solution of high-order boundary value problems on complex material architectures, including general multimaterial arrangements.This can be efficiently achieved with an immersed boundary B-splines approach.Furthermore, the design of flexoelectric metamaterials also involves the analysis of periodic unit cells with generalized periodicity conditions. Optimal high-order convergence rates are obtained with an unfitted B-spline approximation, confirming the reliability of the method. The numerical simulations illustrate the usefulness of the proposed approach toward the design of functional electromechanical multimaterial devices and metamaterials harnessing the flexoelectric effect.

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“…Considering a uniform bending deformation with curvature κ, the electric displacement can be written in the reference configuration as [1,3,4]:…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Comment on "Direct and Converse Flexoelectricity in Two-Dimensional Materials"

Codony¹,

Arias²,

Suryanarayana³

2022

Preprint

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Modeling flexoelectricity in soft dielectrics at finite deformation

Cited by 30 publications

References 103 publications

Flexoelectricity in soft elastomers and the molecular mechanisms underpinning the design and emergence of giant flexoelectricity

Flexoelectricity in soft elastomers and the molecular mechanisms underpinning the design and emergence of giant flexoelectricity

Weak enforcement of interface continuity and generalized periodicity in high‐order electromechanical problems

Comment on "Direct and Converse Flexoelectricity in Two-Dimensional Materials"

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