Project acronym CeraText
Project Tailoring Microstructure and Architecture to Build Ceramic Components with Unprecedented Damage Tolerance
Researcher (PI) Raul BERMEJO
Host Institution (HI) MONTANUNIVERSITAET LEOBEN
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2018-COG
Summary Advanced ceramics are often combined with metals, polymers or other ceramics to produce structural and functional systems with exceptional properties. Examples are resistors and capacitors in microelectronics, piezo-ceramic actuators in car injection devices, and bio-implants for hip joint replacements. However, a critical issue affecting the functionality, lifetime and reliability of such systems is the initiation and uncontrolled propagation of cracks in the brittle ceramic parts, yielding in some cases rejection rates up to 70% of components production.
The remarkable “damage tolerance” found in natural materials such as wood, bone or mollusc, has yet to be achieved in technical ceramics, where incipient damage is synonymous with catastrophic failure. Novel “multilayer designs” combining microstructure and architecture could change this situation. Recent work of the PI has shown that tuning the location of “protective” layers within a 3D multilayer ceramic can increase its fracture resistance by five times (from ~3.5 to ~17 MPa∙m1/2) relative to constituent bulk ceramic layers, while retaining high strength (~500 MPa). By orienting the grain structure, similar to the textured and organized microstructure found in natural systems such as nacre, the PI has shown that crack propagation can be controlled within the textured ceramic layer. Thus, I believe tailored microstructures with controlled grain boundaries engineered in a layer-by-layer 3D architectural design hold the key to a new generation of “damage tolerant” ceramics.
This proposal outlines a research program to establish new scientific principles for the fabrication of innovative ceramic components that exhibit unprecedented damage tolerance. The successful implementation of microstructural features (e.g. texture degree, tailored internal stresses, second phases, interfaces) in a layer-by-layer architecture will provide outstanding lifetime and reliability in both structural and functional ceramic devices.
Summary
Advanced ceramics are often combined with metals, polymers or other ceramics to produce structural and functional systems with exceptional properties. Examples are resistors and capacitors in microelectronics, piezo-ceramic actuators in car injection devices, and bio-implants for hip joint replacements. However, a critical issue affecting the functionality, lifetime and reliability of such systems is the initiation and uncontrolled propagation of cracks in the brittle ceramic parts, yielding in some cases rejection rates up to 70% of components production.
The remarkable “damage tolerance” found in natural materials such as wood, bone or mollusc, has yet to be achieved in technical ceramics, where incipient damage is synonymous with catastrophic failure. Novel “multilayer designs” combining microstructure and architecture could change this situation. Recent work of the PI has shown that tuning the location of “protective” layers within a 3D multilayer ceramic can increase its fracture resistance by five times (from ~3.5 to ~17 MPa∙m1/2) relative to constituent bulk ceramic layers, while retaining high strength (~500 MPa). By orienting the grain structure, similar to the textured and organized microstructure found in natural systems such as nacre, the PI has shown that crack propagation can be controlled within the textured ceramic layer. Thus, I believe tailored microstructures with controlled grain boundaries engineered in a layer-by-layer 3D architectural design hold the key to a new generation of “damage tolerant” ceramics.
This proposal outlines a research program to establish new scientific principles for the fabrication of innovative ceramic components that exhibit unprecedented damage tolerance. The successful implementation of microstructural features (e.g. texture degree, tailored internal stresses, second phases, interfaces) in a layer-by-layer architecture will provide outstanding lifetime and reliability in both structural and functional ceramic devices.
Max ERC Funding
1 985 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-05-01, End date: 2024-04-30
Project acronym CITRES
Project Chemistry and interface tailored lead-free relaxor thin films for energy storage capacitors
Researcher (PI) Marco Deluca
Host Institution (HI) MATERIALS CENTER LEOBEN FORSCHUNG GMBH
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2018-COG
Summary The goal of CITRES is to provide new energy storage devices with high power and energy density by developing novel multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) based on relaxor thin films (RTF).
Energy storage units for energy autonomous sensor systems for the Internet of Things (IoT) must possess high power and energy density to allow quick charge/recharge and long-time energy supply. Current energy storage devices cannot meet those demands: Batteries have large capacity but long charging/discharging times due to slow chemical reactions and ion diffusion. Ceramic dielectric capacitors – being based on ionic and electronic polarisation mechanisms – can deliver and take up power quickly, but store much less energy due to low dielectric breakdown strength (DBS), high losses, and leakage currents.
RTF are ideal candidates: (i) Thin film processing allows obtaining low porosity and defects, thus enhancing the DBS; (ii) slim polarisation hysteresis loops, intrinsic to relaxors, allow reducing the losses. High energy density can be achieved in RTF by maximising the polarisation and minimising the leakage currents. Both aspects are controlled by the amount, type and local distribution of chemical substituents in the RTF lattice, whereas the latter depends also on the chemistry of the electrode metal.
In CITRES, we will identify the influence of substituents on electric polarisation from atomic to macroscopic scale by combining multiscale atomistic modelling with advanced structural, chemical and electrical characterizations on several length scales both in the RTF bulk and at interfaces with various electrodes. This will allow for the first time the design of energy storage properties of RTF by chemical substitution and electrode selection.
The ground-breaking nature of CITRES resides in the design and realisation of RTF-based dielectric MLCCs with better energy storage performances than supercapacitors and batteries, thus enabling energy autonomy for IoT sensor systems.
Summary
The goal of CITRES is to provide new energy storage devices with high power and energy density by developing novel multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) based on relaxor thin films (RTF).
Energy storage units for energy autonomous sensor systems for the Internet of Things (IoT) must possess high power and energy density to allow quick charge/recharge and long-time energy supply. Current energy storage devices cannot meet those demands: Batteries have large capacity but long charging/discharging times due to slow chemical reactions and ion diffusion. Ceramic dielectric capacitors – being based on ionic and electronic polarisation mechanisms – can deliver and take up power quickly, but store much less energy due to low dielectric breakdown strength (DBS), high losses, and leakage currents.
RTF are ideal candidates: (i) Thin film processing allows obtaining low porosity and defects, thus enhancing the DBS; (ii) slim polarisation hysteresis loops, intrinsic to relaxors, allow reducing the losses. High energy density can be achieved in RTF by maximising the polarisation and minimising the leakage currents. Both aspects are controlled by the amount, type and local distribution of chemical substituents in the RTF lattice, whereas the latter depends also on the chemistry of the electrode metal.
In CITRES, we will identify the influence of substituents on electric polarisation from atomic to macroscopic scale by combining multiscale atomistic modelling with advanced structural, chemical and electrical characterizations on several length scales both in the RTF bulk and at interfaces with various electrodes. This will allow for the first time the design of energy storage properties of RTF by chemical substitution and electrode selection.
The ground-breaking nature of CITRES resides in the design and realisation of RTF-based dielectric MLCCs with better energy storage performances than supercapacitors and batteries, thus enabling energy autonomy for IoT sensor systems.
Max ERC Funding
1 996 519 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-04-01, End date: 2024-03-31
Project acronym MIX2FIX
Project Hybrid, organic-inorganic chalcogenide optoelectronics
Researcher (PI) Thomas STERGIOPOULOS
Host Institution (HI) ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE8, ERC-2018-COG
Summary The new generation of optoelectronics seeks for emerging semiconductors which combine high performance with low cost. Lead halide organic-inorganic perovskites manifest as excellent optoelectronic materials for this purpose, but at the expense of robustness and environmental compatibility. This presents a major challenge which this research addresses directly. Viable alternatives have to be identified. To tackle this challenge, MIX2FIX proposes to develop a new class of solution-processable optoelectronic devices based on air-stable, non-toxic metal chalcogenides endowed with an organic part, which will facilitate solution-processing and potentially enrich the compounds with the spectacular properties of halide perovskites. To achieve this, the CoG project has set the following objectives: (i) designing and developing optoelectronically-active, organic-inorganic chalcogenide thin films that have never been explored before, by mimicking strategies from established perovskite technology, (ii) devising means to improve their optoelectronic quality so as to be comparable with the best single-crystal semiconductors and (iii) implementing optimized materials into boundary-pushing PV and LED devices. Addressing these objectives will enable the development of novel functional hybrids at the boundaries of perovskite and chalcogenide thin films. With this, optoelectronics with efficiency and stability, comparable or higher than those of lead halide perovskite or chalcopyrite devices, will be demonstrated. This project will therefore permit the transition for emerging optoelectronic materials from toxic lead halide perovskites to green hybrid chalcogenides. Consolidating this unproven but disruptive technology will secure sustainable future for other areas of interest beyond photovoltaics, displays and lighting such as in X-Rays detectors and phototransistors or even beyond optoelectronics, in systems such as batteries and supercapacitors.
Summary
The new generation of optoelectronics seeks for emerging semiconductors which combine high performance with low cost. Lead halide organic-inorganic perovskites manifest as excellent optoelectronic materials for this purpose, but at the expense of robustness and environmental compatibility. This presents a major challenge which this research addresses directly. Viable alternatives have to be identified. To tackle this challenge, MIX2FIX proposes to develop a new class of solution-processable optoelectronic devices based on air-stable, non-toxic metal chalcogenides endowed with an organic part, which will facilitate solution-processing and potentially enrich the compounds with the spectacular properties of halide perovskites. To achieve this, the CoG project has set the following objectives: (i) designing and developing optoelectronically-active, organic-inorganic chalcogenide thin films that have never been explored before, by mimicking strategies from established perovskite technology, (ii) devising means to improve their optoelectronic quality so as to be comparable with the best single-crystal semiconductors and (iii) implementing optimized materials into boundary-pushing PV and LED devices. Addressing these objectives will enable the development of novel functional hybrids at the boundaries of perovskite and chalcogenide thin films. With this, optoelectronics with efficiency and stability, comparable or higher than those of lead halide perovskite or chalcopyrite devices, will be demonstrated. This project will therefore permit the transition for emerging optoelectronic materials from toxic lead halide perovskites to green hybrid chalcogenides. Consolidating this unproven but disruptive technology will secure sustainable future for other areas of interest beyond photovoltaics, displays and lighting such as in X-Rays detectors and phototransistors or even beyond optoelectronics, in systems such as batteries and supercapacitors.
Max ERC Funding
2 731 250 €
Duration
Start date: 2019-09-01, End date: 2024-08-31
