Ferroelectric materials exhibit a permanent charge separation, or dipole, that is reorientable under an applied electric field, making them useful for applications such as nonvolatile memory.

In addition, because ferroelectrics are a subset of piezoelectrics, which couple electrical and mechanical energies to either produce a charge when stressed or a mechanical strain when an electric field is applied, these same materials can also be useful for microelectromechanical systems.