Converse Piezoelectricity and Ferroelectricity in Crystals of Lysozyme Protein Revealed by Piezoresponse Force Microscopy

Abstract

In recent years, piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) has been used to investigate the piezoelectric and ferroelectric behaviour of many biological materials. Piezoelectricity has been studied in fibrous proteins such as collagen [1, 2] and elastin [3], with the later also demonstrating ferroelectricity. However, a comprehensive understanding of piezoelectricity and ferroelectricity in non-fibrous proteins is lacking.