Design, synthesis and characterization of multi-ferroic materials- from inhomogeneous nanostructure to functional macroscopic properties

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This proposal describes a comprehensive research program on the design, synthesis and characterization of an important class of inorganic functional materials, the (multi-)ferroic materials, including piezoelectrics/ferroelectrics (with electromechanical coupling and switchable polarization), ferromagnetics (with switchable magnetization), ferroelastics (with switchable strain/deformation), and ferro-magnetoelectrics (with simultaneous and coupling polarization and magnetization). These materials are useful in a vast range of industrial or commercial applications, e.g. as nonvolatile random-access memory devices in future computers, 'smart' sensors and actuators for active control of vibration or noise, high-resolution ultrasonic probes for medical imaging, diagnosing and treatment, and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). The ferroic and multi-ferroic properties essential to these applications result from the microscopic and nanoscopic crystal chemistry of materials, i.e. the nature of constituent ions and chemical bonding, the atomic and spin arrangements (nuclear and magnetic structures), and the related phase components and transitions. Therefore, understanding the relationship between micro-/nanoscopic structure and macroscopic functional properties is central to the ferroic materials research, and it is along this line that our research program is established.