Rice University researchers have shown that tiny wrinkles in graphene can change the material's electrical properties, providing evidence for flexoelectricity, a phenomenon in which a material generates an electric charge when it bends unevenly. The findings are published in Advanced Materials.

The discovery suggests scientists may be able to control electricity in atomically thin materials by changing their shape instead of adding new chemicals or materials. The approach could one day lead to more sensitive sensors and ultrathin electronic devices.

"Our work shows that even an ordinary wrinkle can become an extraordinary electronic feature when viewed at the atomic scale," said Pulickel Ajayan, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Engineering and co-corresponding author of the study. "By demonstrating that geometry alone can reshape electrical behavior in graphene, we open a new pathway for designing materials whose properties can be controlled through structure rather than chemistry."