Overview

• Ice was shown to be flexoelectric in lab tests, generating measurable voltage when bent rather than uniformly compressed.
• An international team from ICN2, UAB, Xi’an Jiaotong University, and Stony Brook University reported the results in Nature Physics (DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02995-6).
• The experiment placed an ice slab between electrodes and found signals consistent with those recorded from colliding ice particles in thunderstorms.
• Scientists also detected a thin ferroelectric surface layer below about −113°C (160 K) whose polarization can be reversed by an external field.
• The authors note that ice’s electromechanical behavior could inform cold-environment devices and cloud electrification models, though atmospheric relevance and applications remain unproven.