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A team of researchers from the Queen Mary University of London have discovered a new way to make wireless communication devices, such as antennas, more adaptable by making tiny atomic changes to the structure of a material that can “dramatically improve its ability to respond to electrical signals“. The work could have applications in everything from home Wi-Fi to satellites and mobile broadband networks etc.
The team is said to have focused on a ceramic material called strontium tantalate. By replacing a small number of atoms with slightly smaller calcium atoms, they created tiny distortions in the material’s structure. Although these changes occur at the atomic scale, they have a major effect on how the material behaves and could help create a new generation of wireless devices that can “change frequency on demand“.
The researchers found that these atomic-scale distortions create small regions of electrical activity, known as polar nanoclusters, inside a material that would normally be electrically inactive. These nanoclusters can quickly respond to electric fields, allowing the material’s properties to be tuned when needed.