Advances in the Structural and Functional Characterization of Ferroic Materials

Dear Colleagues,

It is our great pleasure to announce this Special Issue of Materials entitled “Advances in the Structural and Functional Characterization of Ferroic Materials” is now open for submissions. We invite you to submit your contributions

Ferroic materials: magnetics, ferroelectrics and multiferroics are now widely implemented in different types of devices, for examples, micro- and nanoelectronics as well as memory devices, etc. They play a key role in development of the modern technology. Recent progress in electron-microscopy-based characterization techniques have resulted in a profound impact on studies of structures at the nanoscale as well as at the scale of individual atoms. New breakthroughs in developing electron microscopes to image dynamic of nanoscale magnetic and ferroelectric domains using in-situ capabilities or discovering different textures of ferroic orders with 4D STEM broaden our horizons in nanoscale behavior of functional materials. At the same time, the capabilities of scanning probe microcopy have also drastically increased. Accurate and quantitative control of the charge, piezoelectric response, magnetization, electric and thermal transport at the local scale open new intriguing prospects for studies of functional materials. Deeper insights into the relationship between structural and functional responses measured both at the local scale allow for better understanding and control of the material properties. Finite element modeling simulations meet the scientific evolving needs to predict and explain material properties and physical phenomena with a simple and powerful method. The many physical and chemical properties of ferroic materials are well explained with density functional approaches. The combination of these techniques, as implemented on classical well-known materials, has led to a rise in the discovery of new and fascinating phenomena. As well as known ferroic materials, novel materials, many 2D-ferroelectrics and magnetics are being deeply investigated by researchers.

This issue aims to summarize recent progress in the advanced characterization of ferroelectric, piezoelectric, magnetic, and other functional materials, with specific focus on microscopy and spectroscopy realized at the micro- and nanoscale as well as scale of individual atoms and molecules. We invite you to contribute on the following specific topics and other related techniques and phenomena:

• Scanning probe microscopy: piezoresposne force microscopy, magnetic force microcopy, conductive atomic force microscopy, scanning thermal microscopy, nanoscale measurements of the mechanical properties
• Transmission electron microscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electron backscattering diffraction
• Optical microscopy, near-field optical microscopy, Raman and IR spectroscopy with specific focus on micro- and nanoscale measurements
• Structure–property relationships
• Finite element modeling simulations
• Density functional approaches

Dr. Denis  Alikin
Dr. Ali Baghizhadeh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.