Overview: Environmental regulations and sustainability demands require alternatives to conventional lead-based ceramics (like PZT). Our lab focuses on developing compositionally engineered lead-free ferroelectric and piezoelectric systems.

Focus Areas:

• Bismuth-based, and titanate perovskite solid solutions.

• Strain engineering and phase boundary optimization for enhanced electromechanical response.

• Energy harvesting and high-temperature applications.

Overview: Incorporating multi-component equimolar/near-equimolar cations into single-phase ceramic lattices unlocks unique entropy-stabilized structures with tailored dielectric and functional capabilities.

Focus Areas:

• Synthesis and phase stability of high-entropy perovskites and oxides.

• Local structure disorder and its influence on permittivity, energy storage density, and loss mechanisms.

• Discovering novel composition spaces for multi-functional applications.

Overview: Additive manufacturing (3D printing) breaks traditional geometric constraints, enabling complex, architected structures that enhance functional performance. Our research focuses on tailoring feedstock chemistry, printing parameters, and sintering strategies to fabricate high-density functional ceramics and flexible ceramic–polymer composites.

Focus Areas:

• Feedstock & Rheology Optimization: Formulating high-solid-loading ceramic slurries and composite inks with tailored rheological behavior for high-resolution printing.

• Complex Dielectric & Piezoelectric Architectures: Designing structured composites and porous lattices to optimize dielectric constant, piezoelectric response, and mechanical flexibility.

• Structure–Property Relationships: Investigating the interplay between printing-induced microstructural anisotropy, interfacial compatibility between phases, and resulting functional properties.

• Target Applications: Flexible energy harvesters, custom-shaped sensors, high-temperature dielectric capacitors, and architected acoustic transducers.

Ferroelectric / Piezoelectric Test Unit

Polarization & Strain vs Electric Field : Poling : Fatigue (At room and high temperatures) 

Raman Spectroscopy

Phase Transitions : Soft Phonon Modes : Local Distortion and Disorder Mapping

AFM/PFM

Surface topography and roughness : Local ferroelectric domains and electromechanical properties

High-Temperature Furnaces

Up to 1500 C

Microwave Oven

Use with silicon carbide microwave kiln for rapid synthesis and sintering

Ball Milling & Chemical Processing

Solid-State and Wet-chemical synthesis (Sol-Gel & Hydro/Solvothermal)