Investigation of microstructure and its impact on physical property in electroceramics

Microstructure often has a significant impact on the physical properties of electroceramics, and such a view is being widespread. In this article, two of our recent microstructure investigations in electroceramics are reviewed. In the first example, atomic-scale structure of grain boundaries in zinc oxide, which plays important role in generation of the electrical function, was analyzed. It was suggested that a role of praseodymium doping is to facilitate the formation of acceptorlike defects such as zinc vacancy. In the second case, dynamics of nanodomains in piezoelectric single crystals was investigated. In-situ transmission electron microscopy observations revealed that reorientation of nanodomains is the dominant behavior of polarization reversal. I believe that such microscopic viewpoints help us better understand the origin of intriguing physical properties in electroceramics.