Liquid Salts Bring Push-Button Lenses Into Focus
upstart writes:
First-ever piezoelectric liquids could spark new technologies in optics and hydraulics:
Scientists have discovered the first known piezoelectric liquids, which are able to convert mechanical force to electric charge, and vice versa. The generally environmentally friendly nature of these materials suggests they may find many applications beyond standard piezoelectric compounds, such as novel, electrically controlled optics and hydraulics. However, much remains unknown about how they work, and therefore what they may be capable of.
Piezoelectricity was first discovered in 1880. The effect has since found a wide range of applications, including cellphone speakers, inkjet printers, ultrasound imaging, sonar equipment, pressure sensors, acoustic guitar pickups, and diesel fuel injectors.
Until now, all known piezoelectric materials were solid. Now scientists have for the first time discovered piezoelectric liquids. They detailed their findings in a study online 9 March in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.
The researchers experimented with ionic liquids. These fluids are salts-compounds that are each made of both a positively charged cation and a negatively charged anion-that are liquid at unusually low temperatures. In comparison, table salt melts at roughly 800 C.
"They are often relatively viscous-think about them like motor oil, or maple syrup," says Gary Blanchard, one of the authors of the study and a professor of chemistry at Michigan State University, in East Lansing.
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