Screening piezoelectricity in determination of flexoelectric coefficient at nanoscale

Abstract Piezoelectricity usually accompanies with flexoelectricity in polar materials which is the linear response of polarization to a strain gradient. Therefore, it is difficult to eliminate piezoelectric effect in determination of pure flexoelectric response. In this work, we propose an analytical method to characterize the flexoelectric coefficient quantitatively at nanoscale in piezoelectric materials by screening piezoelectricity. Our results show that the flexoelectricity reduces the nanopillar stiffness while the piezoelectricity enhances it. With precise design of the shape of the nanopillars and measurement of their stiffness difference, the flexoelectric coefficient can be obtained with the piezoelectric contribution eliminated completely. This approach avoids the measurement of electrical properties with dynamic load, which helps to reduce the challenge of flexoelectric characterization at nanoscale. Our work suggests an alternative strategy for quantitative characterization of flexoelectric properties and design of flexoelectric devices at nanoscale.