At VTIREF, our research on multi-functional materials such as erroelectrics, piezoelectrics and multiferroics is driven by numerous long-term technological objectives, such as state of the art sensors and actuators, energy-harvesters, nonvolatile memories, spintronic devices and so on. A major slice of our efforts emphasizes on exploring the fundamental science to gain deeper understanding about structure – property relationships, which consequtively can bring about a momentous shift in the research and applications of these materials.
To be precise, this research broadly strives to establish the corelation between crystallography, crystallographic anisotropy, domains and domain dynamics on electro-mechanical behavior of ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics and multiferroics. In one of our recent investigations, we developed a comprehensive mathematical framework to quantify the domain switching behavior of polycrystaline ceramics. This framework is fairly sucessful in differentiating the switching behavior of several well-known piezoelectric compositions.
Another facet of our research in this field focuses on the advancement of the functional behavior of several technologically vital multi-functional materials to advance their feasability for device applications. We utilize noble scientific methods and processing techniques to engineer key functional properties of materials such as alkali niobate, bismuth ferrite and other lead based perovskites. We intend to utilize some of these materials with improved functional behavior for device applications.
