Professor You Yumeng from Southeast University in Jiangsu province displays a new type of molecular piezoelectric material and a thin-film device. [Photo/jsenews.com] 

A research team from Southeast University in Jiangsu province led by Professor You Yumeng has discovered a new material that is able to produce large amounts of electricity when subjected to mechanical stress. 

An article written by the team introducing their discovery was published in Science, one of the world’s most prestigious academic journals. The piece was titled An organic-inorganic perovskite ferroelectric with large piezoelectric response. 

The ferroelectric material’s ability to generate large amounts of piezoelectricity—electric charge produced when the material is jolted or hit, for example—could make it extremely valuable to a wide variety of fields.