The anti-distortive polaron as an alternative mechanism for lattice-mediated charge trapping.

Polarons can naturally form in materials from the interaction of extra charge carriers with the atomic lattice. Ubiquitous, they are central to various phenomena such as high-T superconductivity, electrochromism, photovoltaics, photocatalysis or ion batteries. However, polaron formation remains poorly understood and mostly relies on historical models such as Landau-Pekar, Fröhlich, Holstein or Jahn-Teller polarons.