STONY BROOK, NY — September 5, 2025– A recent study in Nature Physics reveals how ordinary ice can generate electricity, providing crucial insight into the origins of lightning. It was discovered that ice exhibits strong flexoelectricity—an electromechanical effect that occurs when the material is bent.
At Stony Brook University, PhD student Anthony Mannino, working under the supervision of Professor Marivi Fernandez-Serra in the Department of Physics & Astronomy and the Core Faculty at the Institute for Advanced Computational Science (IACS), spearheaded the theoretical side of the project.
The international collaboration was led experimentally by Professor Gustau Catalan and Dr. Xin Wen at the Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2) in Barcelona.
Using the Seawulf supercomputing cluster, Mannino performed large-scale quantum simulations that revealed how the surface of ice can undergo subtle ferroelectric ordering at low temperatures. This ordering amplifies the flexoelectric effect and explains how collisions between ice particles and graupel in thunderclouds can generate the massive charge separations that lead to lightning.
“Helping to facilitate an innovative discovery like the origin of lightning is exciting, extremely rewarding, and very much in keeping with the fundamental role of computation in contemporary science,” said Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Deputy Director of the Institute for Advanced Computational Science (IACS) Alan Calder. “As this study shows, with the combination of clever investigators and advanced computing the sky, or lightning shooting through it at least, is literally the limit.”
The Stony Brook contribution builds on more than a decade of research by the Fernandez-Serra group, which previously uncovered anomalous nuclear quantum effects in ice (Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 193003 (2012)). That work looked to unravel a fundamental anomaly of water, and the new study continues this tradition by identifying a previously unknown electromechanical property of ice.
This looks to be an example of how advanced simulations and experiments complement each other. Anthony Mannino’s simulations performed in the Seawulf cluster connect the atomic-scale physics of ice to one of nature’s most dramatic macroscopic phenomena: lightning.
By bridging quantum theory, high-performance computing, and atmospheric science, the Stony Brook team has helped explain a long-standing puzzle in cloud electrification—showcasing the university’s leadership in computational physics.
Anthony Mannino is a PhD student in both the Department of Physics and Astronomy and IACS. He was recruited by Stony Brook through the IACS Graduate Student Fellowship, which pays a National Science Foundation (NSF)-level stipend plus an allowance for research-related expenses including publication fees, equipment and conference attendance.
“We are very proud of this experiment–theory collaboration,” said Professor Fernandez-Serra.”When our colleagues in Barcelona approached us with their remarkable results in search of theoretical support, we were initially skeptical that we could simulate such a complex system. But Anthony showed that the observed phase transition can be reproduced by combining simulations with a simple physical model—providing a clear explanation for experiments in a material as notoriously difficult to model as ice.”
The SeaWulf supercomputing cluster was funded by NSF (#1531492 and #2215987) and the Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) with additional support from Stony Brook University.
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About Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University is New York’s flagship university and No. 1 public university. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. With more than 26,000 students, more than 3,000 faculty members, more than 225,000 alumni, a premier academic healthcare system and 18 NCAA Division I athletic programs, Stony Brook is a research-intensive distinguished center of innovation dedicated to addressing the world’s biggest challenges. The university embraces its mission to provide comprehensive undergraduate, graduate and professional education of the highest quality, and is ranked as the #58 overall university and #26 among public universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges listing. Fostering a commitment to academic research and intellectual endeavors, Stony Brook’s membership in the Association of American Universities (AAU) places it among the top 71 research institutions in North America. The university’s distinguished faculty have earned esteemed awards such as the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Indianapolis Prize for animal conservation, Abel Prize, Fields Medal and Breakthrough Prizes in Mathematics and Physics. Stony Brook has the responsibility of co-managing Brookhaven National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy — one of only eight universities with a role in running a national laboratory. In 2023, Stony Brook was named the anchor institution for The New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island in New York City. Providing economic growth for neighboring communities and the wider geographic region, the university totals an impressive $8.93 billion in increased economic output on Long Island. Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stonybrooku/ and X@stonybrooku.
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