Ferroelectricity and Ferroic Like Signature in Biological Species: 'Bio-Multiferroics'-An Overview

The presence of piezoelectricity, pyroelectricity and ferroelectricity in biological samples has been envisaged since the 1950s, the earliest studies being done on wood, bones, collagen, etc. Pioneer work reporting piezoelectricity in bones, tendons, dentin, etc. has been in existence for quite some time however it was only in the recent past that ferroelectricity was suggested to be present in bio-species like aortic wall, nail and certain form of shells. Recent focus of uncovering bio-ferroelectricity has progressed into natural and artificial bio-molecules such as glycine, peptides, tubulin, etc due to the advancement in instrumentation with nanoscale measurement capabilities. This paper makes an attempt to discuss the chronological developments in the field of ferroelectricity in biological samples, recent upsurge in this field of science with the aid of better resources and our perspective of bio-ferroelectricity/bio-multiferroicity along with experimental results on some selected biological materials. This is a brief review of the field of biological ferroelectricity since its birth to its present state of affairs.