S8 – Structure–Property Relationships in Relaxor Ceramics

Relaxor materials are finding increasing application in fields like telecommunications, energy storage, sensors, and actuators. In relaxors, the role of differently charged substituents, their distribution in the lattice, and the arrangement of polar order/disorder on multiple length scales needs to be uncovered to enable advanced property tuning. Various models (e.g., random fields theory, polar nanoregions, slush-ice, and dipolar glass models) were proposed to describe relaxor behavior from an atomistic viewpoint; however, no unified theory of relaxors is available yet.

This symposium specifically targets the interplay of local structure, chemistry, configurational entropy, ergodic–nonergodic behavior, and instabilities induced by substitution and electric polarization on multiple length scales, and how it impacts macroscopic properties relevant for applications (energy storage, electromechanical and electrocaloric applications, among others). It welcomes contributions in the field of materials genomics, for example, with the use of high-throughput density functional theory and artificial intelligence methods applied to the science of relaxors. Both lead-based and lead-free perovskite relaxors are addressed here, together with relaxors in nonperovskite crystalline forms. Contributions involving advanced nano- to microscale characterization methods in synergy with multiscale modeling also are welcome to provide key insights to better understanding the structure–property relationships in relaxors.

Proposed Sessions 

• Local structure of relaxors
• Multiscale modeling of relaxors
• Advanced nano- and microscale characterization methods for relaxors
• Computational materials design for relaxors
• Applications of relaxors

Symposium Organizers 

• Marco Deluca, Materials Center Leoben Forschung GmbH, Austria, marco.deluca@mcl.at
• Prasanna V. Balachandran, University of Virginia, USA, pvb5e@virginia.edu
• Antonio Feteira, Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom, a.feteira@shu.ac.uk
• Jiri Hlinka, Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic, hlinka@fzu.cz