Longitudinal piezoelectricity in natural calcite materials: Preliminary studies

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Abstract

Here we report a preliminary quantitative investigation into calcite piezoelectricity using a combination of quantum mechanical modelling and electromechanical characterisation of naturally occurring calcite crystals and structures. The low symmetry of crystallised biomolecules - from amino acids and peptides to viruses and fibrous proteins - can result in useful electrical properties, including ferroelectricity, pyroelectricity, and piezoelectricity. Biominerals such as hydroxyapatite and calcite are generally not considered piezoelectric. This data represents the first quasi-static, longitudinal piezoelectric measurements on macroscopic calcite based materials; namely Icelandic spar and a variety of beach specimens. We substantiate these measurements using Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations, which attribute the measured weak, residual piezoelectric response in all directions to centrosymmetric calcite crystals. Our data is consistent with the observation of second harmonics generation by calcite microcrystals occurring in the human pineal gland.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)803-807
Number of pages5
JournalIEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
Volume25
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2018

Keywords

  • Bioelectric phenomena
  • Biological system modelling
  • Crystals
  • Organic compounds
  • Piezoelectricity
  • Simulation

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