Ferroelectric materials are used in infrared cameras, medical ultrasounds, computer memory and actuators that turn electric properties into mechanical properties and vice-versa. Most of these essential materials, however, contain lead and can therefore be toxic.

“For the last 10 years, there has been a huge initiative all over the world to find ferroelectric materials that do not contain lead,” said Laurent Bellaiche, Distinguished Professor of physics at the University of Arkansas.

The atoms in a ferroelectric material can have more than one crystalline structure. Where two crystalline structures meet is called a phase boundary, and the properties that make ferroelectric materials useful are strongest at these boundaries.