Strain tuning: Spray painting atomic potassium niobate onto a substrate enables tuning of properties of the resulting thin film

https://www.psu.edu/news/materials-research-institute/story/straining-materials-atomic-arrangement-may-make-cleaner-smarter

"alters properties by stretching/ compressing atoms' repeating motif of its crystal structure... molecular beam epitaxy depositing layer of atoms... increases temperature limits/ improves ferroelectric performance.... ferroelectrics can reverse their electric polarity when external electric field applied, vital for many devices... strain engineering works by layering 2 materials of slightly dissimilar sizes... potassium niobate is lead-free... consumer electronics, medical devices, quantum computing... future: silicon substrate."