The Influence of Mechanical Loads on the Functional Properties of Perovskite Oxides

Perovskite-structured ceramics are commercially important oxide ceramics that are used in numerous actuation, sensing, and energy applications due to their wide-ranging functional material properties, such as ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, superconductivity, colossal magnetoresistance, and ionic conductivity. Perovskite materials in many engineered structures are exposed to significant thermal, electrical, and mechanical fields that can lead to the development of large mechanical stresses. These stresses can affect the individual component performance and the overall system reliability. The focus of this Emmy Noether Programme proposal is the influence of stress on novel perovskite materials used in two advanced applications: high strain actuators and cathode materials for solid oxide fuel cells. Each application has a set of required functional material properties from the perovskite. For that reason the following sections are divided into two distinctive parts based on these two applications, where the state of the art, preliminary work, and work program are discussed separately.