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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2020) | Viewed by 15524

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Dr. Manuel Hinterstein

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Institute for Applied Materials, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Interests: piezoceramics; electroceramics; diffraction; multiscale characterisation; simulation; ion conduction; domain walls; phase transitions; in situ; in operando; energy materials; ferroelectrics; ceramic semiconductors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Functional Electroceramics are among the most important functional materials and are indispensable for outstanding technological developments. They increasingly gain importance in digitisation and telecommunications as miniaturised electronic components, as electrode materials for batteries or fuel cells, or as actuators and sensors.

Piezoceramics especially have become a hot topic within the past decade. Legislations against the use of hazardous substances sparked research into environmentally friendly alternative materials. This has an extraordinary impact on research on lead-free piezoceramics. A wide range of new material systems was created or already known ones were rediscovered. The combination of already promising systems also led to promising results. In this way, new aspects were discovered that are important for other applications. These include extraordinary ion-conducting or semiconducting properties, as well as mechanical, electrical and structural processes under the influence of external stimuli. For materials science, these properties are of particular importance in connection with the transition from a fossil fuel-based society to the use of renewable energies. Together with the development of sophisticated characterisation methods, materials science in this field has made a great leap forward.

It is my pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Dr. Manuel Hinterstein
Guest Editor

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Keywords

electroceramics
piezoceramics
ferroelectrics
ion conduction
electric field
piezoelectric effect
energy materials

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 4093 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Porosity on Functional Properties of Lead-Free Piezoelectric BaZr_0.15Ti_0.85O₃ Porous Ceramics

by Lavinia Curecheriu, Vlad Alexandru Lukacs, Leontin Padurariu, George Stoian and Cristina Elena Ciomaga

Materials 2020, 13(15), 3324; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13153324 - 26 Jul 2020

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 3112

Abstract

The present paper reports the dependence of dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties on the porosity level in BaZr_0.15Ti_0.85O₃ ceramics with porosity from 5% to 21%. Microporosity with 0–3 connectivity has been produced using PMMA microspheres as a sacrificial template. The functional properties (dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric effect) are mostly affected by the “dilution effect”: permittivity decreases by 40% when porosity increases by 21%, and P_max decreases from 13 to 5 µC/cm² while the P_rem is in the range of (2–8) µC/cm². However, the reduction of the zero-field permittivity and hysteretic behaviour of ε(E) while the tunability level is still high makes from porous ceramics interesting materials for tunability application. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Electroceramics)

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14 pages, 3535 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Electric-Field-Induced Phase Transformation and Frequency-Dependent Behavior of Bismuth Sodium Titanate–Barium Titanate

by Kai-Yang Lee, Xi Shi, Nitish Kumar, Mark Hoffman, Martin Etter, Stefano Checchia, Jens Winter, Lucas Lemos da Silva, Daniela Seifert and Manuel Hinterstein

Materials 2020, 13(5), 1054; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13051054 - 27 Feb 2020

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3367

Abstract

The electric field response of the lead-free solid solution (1−x)Bi_0.53Na_0.47TiO₃–xBaTiO₃ (BNT–BT) in the higher BT composition range with x = 0.12 was investigated using in situ synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction. An introduced Bi-excess non-stoichiometry caused an extended morphotropic phase boundary, leading to an unexpected fully reversible relaxor to ferroelectric (R–FE) phase transformation behavior. By varying the field frequency in a broad range from 10⁻⁴ up to 10² Hz, BNT–12BT showed a frequency-dependent gradual suppression of the field induced ferroelectric phase transformation in favor of the relaxor state. A frequency triggered self-heating within the sample was found and the temperature increase exponentially correlated with the field frequency. The effects of a lowered phase transformation temperature T_R–FE, caused by the non-stoichiometric composition, were observed in the experimental setup of the freestanding sample. This frequency-dependent investigation of an R–FE phase transformation is unlike previous macroscopic studies, in which heat dissipating metal contacts are used. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Electroceramics)

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16 pages, 7089 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Investigation of the Magnetoelectric Effect in NdFeB-Driven A-Line Shape Terfenol-D/PZT-5A Structures

by Juanjuan Zhang, Yan Kang, Yuanwen Gao and George J. Weng

Materials 2019, 12(7), 1055; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12071055 - 30 Mar 2019

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2881

Abstract

In this paper, the magnetoelectric (ME) effect is investigated in two kinds of A-line shape Terfenol-D/PZT-5A structures by changing the position of the NdFeB permanent magnet. The experimental results show that both ME composite structures had multiple resonance peaks. For the ME structure with acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) trestles, the resonance peak was different for different places of the NdFeB permanent magnet. Besides, the maximum of the ME coefficient was 4.142 V/A at 32.2 kHz when the NdFeB permanent magnet was on top of the Terfenol-D layer. Compared with the ME coefficient with a DC magnetic field, the ME coefficient with NdFeB magnets still maintained high values in the frequency domain of 65~87 kHz in the ME structure with mica trestles. Through Fourier transform analysis of the transient signal, it is found that the phenomenon of multiple frequencies appeared at low field frequency but not at high field frequency. Moreover, the output ME voltages under different AC magnetic fields are shown. Changing the amplitude of AC magnetic field, the magnitude of the output voltage changed, but the resonant frequency did not change. Finally, a finite element analysis was performed to evaluate the resonant frequency and the magnetic flux distribution characteristics of the ME structure. The simulation results show that the magnetic field distribution on the surface of Terfenol-D is non-uniform due to the uneven distribution of the magnetic field around NdFeB. The resonant frequencies of ME structures can be changed by changing the location of the external permanent magnet. This study may provide a useful basis for the improvement of the ME coefficient and for the optimal design of ME devices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Electroceramics)

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9 pages, 11847 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Structural Effects of Magnetostrictive Materials on the Magnetoelectric Response of Particulate CZFO/NKNLS Composites

by Moon Hyeok Choi, Kyujin Ko and Su Chul Yang

Materials 2019, 12(7), 1053; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12071053 - 30 Mar 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3302

Abstract

In this study, magnetostrictive powders of CoFe₂O₄ (CFO) and Zn-substituted CoFe₂O₄ (CZFO, Zn = 0.1, 0.2) were synthesized in order to decrease the optimal dc magnetic field (H_opt.), which is required to obtain a reliable magnetoelectric (ME) voltage in a 3-0 type particulate composite system. The CFO powders were prepared as a reference via a typical solid solution process. In particular, two types of heterogeneous CZFO powders were prepared via a stepwise solid solution process. Porous-CFO and dense-CFO powders were synthesized by calcination in a box furnace without and with pelletizing, respectively. Then, heterogeneous structures of pCZFO and dCZFO powders were prepared by Zn-substitution on calcined powders of porous-CFO and dense-CFO, respectively. Compared to the CFO powders, the heterogeneous pCZFO and dCZFO powders exhibited maximal magnetic susceptibilities (χ_max) at lower H_dc values below ±50 Oe and ±10 Oe, respectively. The Zn substitution effect on the H_dc shift was more dominant in dCZFO than in pCZFO. This might be because the Zn ion could not diffuse into the dense-CFO powder, resulting in a more heterogeneous structure inducing an effective exchange-spring effect. As a result, ME composites consisting of 0.948Na_0.5K_0.5NbO₃–0.052LiSbO₃ (NKNLS) with CFO, pCZFO, and dCZFO were found to exhibit H_opt. = 966 Oe (NKNLS-CFO), H_opt. = 689–828 Oe (NKNLS-pCZFO), and H_opt. = 458–481 Oe (NKNLS-dCZFO), respectively. The low values of H_opt. below 500 Oe indicate that the structure of magnetostrictive materials should be considered in order to obtain a minimal H_opt. for high feasibility of ME composites. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Electroceramics)

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15 pages, 772 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Damage from Coexistence of Ferroelectric and Antiferroelectric Domains and Clustering of O Vacancies in PZT: An Elastic and Raman Study

by Francesco Cordero, Elena Buixaderas and Carmen Galassi

Materials 2019, 12(6), 957; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12060957 - 22 Mar 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2410

Abstract

It is often suggested that oxygen vacancies (V

_{O}

It is often suggested that oxygen vacancies (V

_{O}

) are involved in fatigue and pinning of domain walls in ferroelectric (FE) materials, but generally without definite evidence or models. Here the progress of damage induced by the coexistence of FE and antiferroelectric (AFE) domains in the absence of electric cycling is probed by monitoring the Young’s modulus, which may undergo more than fourfold softenings without significant changes in the Raman spectra, but may end with the disaggregation of PZT with ∼5% Ti. At these compositions, the FE and AFE phases coexist at room temperature, as also observed with micro-Raman, and hence the observations are interpreted in terms of the aggregation of V

_{O}

at the interfaces between FE and AFE domains, which are sources of internal electric and stress fields. The V

_{O}

would coalesce into planar defects whose extension grows with time but can be dissolved by annealing above 600 K, which indeed restores the original stiffness. The observed giant softening is interpreted by assimilating the planar aggregations of V

_{O}

to flat inclusions with much reduced elastic moduli, due to the missing Zr/Ti−O bonds. A relationship between the coalescence of a fixed concentration of V

_{O}

into planar defects and softening is then obtained from the existing literature on the effective elastic moduli of materials with inclusions of various shapes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Electroceramics)

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