New research led by Oregon Health & Science University suggests you should think twice about indulging in a late-night snack if you’d like to preserve liver health.

With the rapid advancement of pulsed power electronics, electric vehicles, avionic systems, and renewable energy grids, dielectric capacitors have emerged as indispensable components due to their ultrahigh power density and ultrafast charge–discharge rates. Traditional lead-based dielectric ceramics, however, pose severe environmental and health hazards during their fabrication, usage, and disposal. Sodium bismuth titanate (Bi_0.5Na_0.5TiO₃, BNT)-based lead-free relaxor ferroelectric ceramics have attracted increasing attention as promising alternatives owing to the large spontaneous polarization induced by the Bi³⁺ 6s² lone-pair electron configuration and their broad operational temperature stability arising from diffuse phase transitions. Nevertheless, challenges remain in coordinating polarization response, dielectric breakdown strength (E_b), and relaxation behavior across different operational voltages. Therefore, developing field-tailored multiscale design strategies is essential to meet growing performance demands in diverse electrostatic energy storage applications.

University Hospitals has been officially recognized by Forbes and Statista as one of America’s Best Employers for Healthcare Professionals 2026, ranking No. 1 in Northeast Ohio, No. 3 in Ohio and No. 26 in the United States.