New Frontiers in Multifunctional Materials: Design, Synthesis and Nanostructure-Property Relations

设计和发现新材料在技术进步中起着至关重要的作用。特别令人感兴趣的是一类多功能材料，它表现出有趣的特性，包括介电、压电、铁电和磁电。这些材料在广泛的工业和商业应用中需求很高，适用于从声纳到太阳能电池板的各种设备。这项提议旨在应对这一领域新出现的挑战。*我们研究计划的总体目标是设计、合成和表征具有多功能的新型无机固态材料，并提供对非均匀纳米结构和增强的宏观性能之间的关系的更好的理解。本计划的技术方面包括：i)合成显示出关键物理量之间相互耦合的新材料，如机电、磁电和电热效应；ii)开发高居里温度(TC)和高性能的压电/铁电材料；iii)制备环境友好的铅系压电/铁电材料和杂化钙钛矿卤化物，其特性适合于在机电换能器和光电器件中取代铅基材料；最后，iv)对合成材料的结构和物理性能进行表征，以获得对晶体化学、纳米结构和多功能性能之间关系的新见解。*这项研究计划将通过将新的晶体化学概念应用于新型高性能多铁材料的设计，通过使用不同的方法和技术合成新材料，并通过表征新材料的结构和性能，来推动功能材料科学和工程的发展。总体而言，这项研究将通过更好地理解复杂功能材料的纳米结构和性质关系，丰富我们在材料化学和晶体物理方面的知识。它还将探索和评估多功能材料在先进技术中的潜在应用，如能量收集、转换和存储；智能传感和执行；用于大数据处理的高密度存储器和微电子设备；用于改进医学成像、诊断和治疗的高分辨率超声波探头；以及用于水下探测和通信的高灵敏度和大功率声纳。这些努力将有助于能源、环境、健康、国防和生活水平的进步和创新。这项研究计划的另一个重要方面是通过其跨学科的性质为培养高素质人才提供巨大的机会。

Designing and discovering novel materials plays a crucial role in the advancement of technology. Of particular interest is the class of multifunctional materials that exhibit interesting properties including dielectric, piezoelectric, ferroelectric, and magnetoelectric. These materials are highly demanded in a vast range of industrial and commercial applications and are applicable to devices from sonars to solar panels. This proposal is aimed to take on the emerging challenges in this field. ***The overall objective of our research program is to design, synthesize and characterize new inorganic solid state materials which exhibit multifunctional properties, and to provide a better understanding of the relationship between inhomogeneous nanostructures and enhanced macroscopic properties. The technical aspect of our program include: i) synthesis of new materials that exhibit inter-couplings between key physical quantities, such as electro-mechanical, magneto-electric, and electro-caloric effects; ii) development of high Curie-temperature (Tc) and high-performance piezo-/ferroelectric materials; iii) preparation of environmentally friendly lead-ree piezo-/ferroelectric materials and hybrid perovskite halides with characteristics suitable to have them replace their lead-based counterparts in electromechanical transducers and optoelectronic devices; and lastly, iv) characterization of structures and physical properties of the materials synthesized in order to gain new insights into the relationship between crystal chemistry, nanostructure and multifunctional properties.***This research program will advance functional materials science and engineering by applying novel crystal chemistry concepts to the design of new high performance multiferroic materials, by synthesizing the new materials using different approaches and techniques, and by characterizing the new material's structures and properties. In general, this research will enrich our knowledge in materials chemistry and crystal physics by providing a better understanding of the nanostructure property relations of complex functional materials. It will also explore and evaluate the potential applications of multifunctional materials in advanced technologies, such as energy harvesting, conversion and storage; smart sensing and actuating; high-density memory and micro-electronic devices for big data processing; high-resolution ultrasonic probes for improved medical imaging, diagnosis and therapy; and high-sensitivity and high-power sonar for underwater detection and communication. These efforts will contribute to the advancements and innovations in energy, environment, health, defense and standards of living. Another important aspect of this research program is to provide great opportunities for training highly qualified personnel through its interdisciplinary nature.