How Atoms Dance in Dielectrics

New tools reveal details of the relationship between a ceramics’ molecular structure and its capacitance

3 min read

How Atoms Dance in Dielectrics
When an electric field is applied to sodium bismuth titanate, a ferroelectric ceramic, the bismuth atoms (purple) change their orientation in relation to the titanium atoms (blue), to align with the field—while the bond lengths remain unchanged. The arrows indicate the bismuth atom shifts.
Images: Tedi-Marie Usher / NCSU