Functional materials are distinctively different from structural materials. Their physical and chemical properties are sensitive to change in the ambient environment, such as variations in temperature, pressure, electric field, magnetic field, and optical radiation. These materials encompass a wide range of organic and inorganic materials including ferroelectric and piezoelectric crystals. They utilize their inherent properties and functions to perform intelligent actions. Searching for new functional/smart materials and improving the properties of the already known ones is a challenge for the development of novel systems/devices. Our work here at UConn is mainly concentrated on thin films of functional oxides. Our focus is on the relationship between microstructure, including equilibrium defects such as misfit dislocations, internal stresses and the physical properties of thin films of smart materials.

Our group specializes in:

• Multiscale modeling of materials
• Ferroic and multiferroic materials
• Conducting oxides
• Polarizable semiconductors
• Tunable dielectrics for microwave devices
• Defect microstructures in functional materials
• Materials for electrical contacts
• Electrothermal properties of materials