Researchers at ICN2 have found that bending ice produces electricity, offering new insight into the origin of lightning. Ubiquitous in nearly all cold ecosystems, ice is still unveiling hidden properties.
Ice Proven to Be Flexoelectric Through International Collaboration
In a global collaboration with Xi’an Jiaotong University (China) and Stony Brook University (USA), the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) has shown that ice is flexoelectric—capable of generating electricity when unevenly deformed.
Published in Nature Physics, this finding not only paves the way for technological advances but also offers a credible physical explanation for how lightning arises in thunderstorms.
The study revealed that ice, even near 0 °C, exhibits an electrical response when unevenly bent or stressed.
In addition, at ultra-low temperatures (below –113 °C or 160 K), researchers identified a thin ferroelectric layer on the surface of ice.
Dual Electrical Properties Reveal the Hidden Complexity of Ice
This layer enables reversible electrical polarization, similar to a magnet’s polarity reversal. Together, the coexistence of ferroelectricity in extreme cold and flexoelectricity at higher temperatures reveals ice to be far more intricate and fascinating than once believed.
A key highlight of this research is its direct link to the natural mechanisms behind lightning.
While it was already known that storms arise from charge buildup in clouds caused by ice particle collisions, the exact process of charge generation had remained unclear.
Flexoelectric Ice Explains Charge Generation in Storm Clouds
The study demonstrates that when ice bends unevenly—something that naturally occurs during collisions in clouds—it produces electric charge through flexoelectricity.
In experiments, scientists bent an ice sheet placed between two electrodes and measured the resulting voltage, which aligned with the electrical potentials observed in thunderstorm data.
These findings strengthen the idea that ice flexoelectricity could be the driving force behind cloud electrification, a crucial step in the creation of lightning.
Surprisingly, ice itself could serve as a functional material in electronic devices. This is particularly relevant in cold environments such as polar regions, high mountains, or even future space missions to icy moons like Europa or Enceladus, where producing conventional materials is impractical.
Flexoelectric Ice as a Power Source for Next-Generation Sensors
Thanks to flexoelectricity, ice can generate current without external power, enabling the creation of autonomous sensors, climate monitoring tools, or seismic detectors.
Amid today’s climate crisis, leveraging low-impact technologies powered by natural processes marks a strategic step forward.
In places like the Arctic, where harsh conditions hinder the operation of standard equipment, devices that use ice as an active element could enable continuous tracking of ice melt, methane release, or tectonic shifts beneath glaciers.
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