Patent ID: 8736151

Claim:
An electric generator comprising: a poled ferroelectric crystalline material having a remnant polarization that is due to the alignment of dipoles within the poled ferroelectric crystalline material, the aligned dipoles collectively defining a net electrical dipole moment within the poled ferroelectric crystalline material, the net electrical dipole moment imposing a nontrivial charge differential across opposite sides of the poled ferroelectric crystalline material, where the presence of the nontrivial charge differential is due in substantial part to the net electrical dipole moment rather than to any source external to the poled ferroelectric crystalline material, and a coercive force of the poled ferroelectric crystalline material is sufficiently large to prevent a substantial change of the alignment of the dipoles during operation of the electric generator; and a pair of electrical contacts disposed on the opposite sides of the poled ferroelectric crystalline material, wherein one electrical contact is a high work function material and the other electrical contact is a low work function material.