Chemists establish fundamentals of ferroelectric materials
Ferromagnetic materials, like compass needles, are useful because their magnetic polarization makes them rotate to align with magnetic fields. Ferroelectric materials behave in a similar way but with electric, rather than magnetic, fields. That external electric fields can reorient the electric polarization of these materials makes them ideal for certain memory applications, such as stored-value cards used in mass-transit systems. Since changes in their polarization cause such materials to physically change shape and vice-versa, a phenomenon known as piezoelectricity, ferroelectrics are also crucial "smart materials" for a variety of sensors, such as ultrasound machines and probe-based microscopes. They could even be used as nanoscale motors.