Scaling effect of flexoelectric (Ba,Sr)TiO3 microcantilevers

The flexoelectric microcantilever offers an alternative approach for the development of micro/nano-sensors. The transverse flexoelectric coefficients mu(12) of barium strontium titanate microcantilevers were measured at room temperature, and found to keep the same value of 8.5 mu C/m for microcantilevers with thickness ranging from 30 mu m to 1.4 mm. The calculated effective piezoelectric coefficient and electrical energy density of flexoelectric cantilevers are superior to those of their piezoelectric counterparts, suggesting that the flexoelectricity-induced polarization can be significantly increased as structures are scaled down due to the scaling effect of strain gradient, holding promise for flexoelectric micro/nano cantilever sensing applications. (C) 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim