In 1880, Jacques and Pierre Curie discovered that applying pressure to certain crystals such as quartz, zinc blende (sphalerite), and tourmaline can generate an electric charge.¹ By the 1910s, this phenomenon—called piezoelectricity—was widely recognized as an intrinsic property of some solids.

The term “piezoelectricity” is derived from the Greek word piezein, meaning “to press,” and refers to the generation of electricity in response to mechanical stress.¹ In the early 1940s, barium titanate (BaTiO₃, or BT) was identified as the first perovskite material to demonstrate piezoelectricity, exhibiting a piezoelectric coefficient (d₃₃) of 86 pC/N. By the 1950s, lead-based piezoelectric materials, typically lead zirconate titanate (PZT), became widely used due to their high piezoelectric coefficients (d₃₃ of about 600 pC/N for PZT).²