Antiferroelectric materials

Antiferroelectrics exhibit a large potential for the use in various electronic devices due to their high energy-storage density (capacitors), field-dependent permittivity (tunable dielectrics), inverse electrocaloric effect (solid-state coolers), and multiple non-volatile states (neuromorphic computing). We are developing new lead-free antiferroelectric material compositions, explore their characteristics and limitations, and study the underlying physical mechanisms responsible for their unique behavior.

Studies of the field-induced transitions in pure NaNbO₃ revealed irreversible phase transition behavior and gave further insights into the transition mechanism. We demonstrated the existence of a new phase transition between ferroelectric and antiferroelectric states, which can be induced by changing the grain size of polycrystalline samples.

ZHANG, Mao-Hua, FULANOVIĆ, Lovro, EGERT, Sonja, DING, Hui, GROSZEWICZ, Pedro B., KLEEBE, Hans-Joachim, MOLINA-LUNA, Leopoldo, KORUZA, Jurij. Electric-field-induced antiferroelectric to ferroelectric phase transition in polycrystalline NaNbO₃. Acta Materialia, 2020, vol. 200, 127-135.

ZHANG, Mao-Hua, FULANOVIĆ, Lovro, ZHAO, Changhao, KORUZA, Jurij. Review on field-induced phase transitions in lead-free NaNbO3-based antiferroelectric perovskite oxides for energy storage. Journal of Materiomics, 2022, vol. 9, 1-18.

KORUZA, Jurij*, GROSZEWICZ, Pedro*, BREITZKE, Hergen, BUNTKOWSKY, Gerd, ROJAC, Tadej, MALIČ, Barbara. Grain-size-induced ferroelectricity in NaNbO₃. Acta Materialia, 2017, vol. 126, 77-85. (* co-first authors)