The dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the ferroelectric BaTiO₃ were measured and analyzed using both strong and weak electric field conditions. To measure the electric field induced polarizations and strains, a high voltage source and the measuring circuit were used and the dielectric constants were measured with an impedance analyzer. The spontaneous polarization of BaTiO₃ at room temperature was calculated as 17 μC/cm² based on the lattice structure and internal ion location, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. The polarization and strain hysteresis curve according to the electric field were analyzed in terms of lattice structure and ion position. The magnitude of remanent polarization is proportional to the offset distance of Ti⁴⁺ ion from the lattice center. The magnitude of dielectric permittivity is proportional to the degree to which Ti⁴⁺ ion can move freely inside the lattice. The magnitude of piezoelectric constant d₃₃ is proportional to how much Ti⁴⁺ ion distorts the lattice as it moves inside the lattice.

Flexible and wearable electronics, which require stable operation under mechanical deformation, are increasingly utilizing Eutectic Gallium-Indium (EGaIn) for their conductive components. This study presents a systematic approach to fabricating highly reliable, deformable electrodes via a direct-ink-writing (DIW) 3D printing process using EGaIn as the functional ink. We conducted a thorough optimization of key printing parameters, specifically the extrusion pressure and printing speed, to achieve stable and uniform conductive lines. Through this optimization, we successfully established an optimal process window, achieving a stable line width of approximately 130 μm at an extrusion pressure of 300 kPa and a printing speed of 16 mm/s. The fabricated flexible electrodes exhibited exceptional electromechanical stability, maintaining negligible resistance change (< 0.82%) both under severe bending (3 mm radius) and after 100 repetitive bending cycles. This work demonstrates that the 3D printing of EGaIn is a viable and effective method for creating robust, high-performance electrodes for the next generation of deformable and wearable electronic devices.

The increasing demand for renewable energy is driving the rapid expansion of the offshore wind industry, leading to intensified research on subsea cables. These cables endure combined thermal, electrical, and mechanical stresses, with mechanical stress being a critical failure factor. Environmental changes, such as seabed scouring, free spans, and seismic activity, accelerate cable degradation by introducing additional dynamic loads. Conventional monitoring systems primarily track thermal stress, lacking the ability to assess mechanical impacts. This study develops a system to simultaneously measure thermal and mechanical stress in subsea cables. Laboratory experiments confirm the system’s reliability, showing a temperature measurement error within 0.8% at 60℃ and a strain measurement error within 13% at 378 με. The proposed system aims to enhance failure prediction and maintenance strategies for offshore wind subsea cables.

With the extensive industrial growth driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the excessive use of fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions have accelerated global warming. Energy harvesting technologies have garnered significant attention as a potential solution to this issue. Among them, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have emerged as promising candidates for energy collection and conversion. However, TENGs typically face limitations in providing an efficient energy supply due to their high output voltage and low output current. To overcome these challenges, numerous studies have explored various methods to enhance the output performance by increasing the surface area of the triboelectric materials. Herein, we report a high-output TENG fabricated through a simple scratch process. By utilizing sandpaper, typically used for abrasion or polishing, the surface roughness of the triboelectric material PFA was increased through surface scratching. The surface-engineered TENG, prepared through this simple and rapid process, demonstrated enhanced output characteristics with a voltage of 276 V and a current of 72 μA, showing a 21% increase in voltage and a 41% increase in current compared to the non-engineered counterpart, providing sufficient energy to power an LED. These results indicate that the scratch-based surface modification process using sandpaper offers an effective solution for improving triboelectric output performance, establishing TENGs as a key contributor to sustainable energy supply.

Recently, as environmental issues caused by gas stoves have led to the widespread adoption of induction appliances, specialized cookware for induction is essential. However, due to the inability of ceramic containers to be directly used on induction cooktops, a conductive coating is required on the bottom of the cookware, presenting limitations such as complex deposition processes and extended coating times in existing methods including thermal spraying, dip coating, and transcription method. We confirmed the potential of heat-resistant cookware for induction use by coating the bottom of the ceramic container with Ag through a simple manufacturing process of screen-printing and measuring its thermal conductivity and reliability. The Ag-coated ceramic cookware produced by screen-printing demonstrated similar thermal conductivity and reliability to those made using the traditional method of transfer printing. In addition, the adhesive strength before and after thermal shock testing was even superior in the screen-printing method, which suggests a higher expected lifespan. As a result, it is expected that induction-compatible heat-resistant ceramic containers with excellent performance and lifespan will be manufactured through the screen-printing process, which is more cost-effective and efficient compared to other methods.

Understanding the structure-property relationship in functional materials is crucial as microstructural features such as nano-precipitates, phase boundary, grain boundary segregation, and grain boundary phases play a key role in their functional properties. Atom probe tomography (APT) is an advanced analytical technique that allows for the three-dimensional (3D) mapping of atomic distributions and the precise determination of local chemical compositions in materials. Moreover, it offers sub-nanometer spatial resolution and chemical sensitivity at the tens of parts per million (ppm) level. Owing to its unique capabilities, this technique has been employed to uncover the 3D elemental distributions in a wide range of materials, including alloys, semiconductors, nanomaterials, and even biomaterials. In this paper, various kinds of examples are introduced for elucidating structure-property relationships on functional materials by utilizing the atom probe tomography.

Piezoelectric ceramics play an important role in various electronic applications. However, traditional ceramics are difficult to be used in some complicated structures, due to their low flexibility and high brittleness. To solve this problem, this study prepared and investigated ceramic/polymer composites that can utilize a good flexibility of polymers. Polyvinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) and 0.77(Bi_1/2Na_1/2)TiO₃-0.23SrTiO₃ (BNST23) ceramics were selected to fabricate the composites. Ceramic/polymer composites were prepared using various volume fractions of BNST23 ceramics. The distribution of piezoceramic particles in BNST23/PVDF-TrFE composites was investigated using optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the composites were significantly influenced by the volume fraction of the piezoelectric ceramics. As a result, the highest piezoelectric constant (d33) of 56 pC/N was obtained in a composites with 70% volume fraction of BNST23 ceramics. Accordingly, it is expected that BNST23/PVDF-TrFE composites can be applied to various sensor applications.

Research on aged insulation of cables by stress is constantly being considered for reliable and stable power transmission of offshore wind farms. This study aimed to evaluate the insulation characteristic of aged XLPE (cross-linked polyethylene) insulation for application of offshore wind farms. In this study, The XLPE insulation of cable was set as various mechanical strains. The XLPE insulation is exposed to the mechanical stress below yield strain of 5%, 10%, and 20%. Aged samples were tested by using the method of AC BDV (alternative current breakdown voltage), tensile strength, elongation, and SEM (scanning electron microscope) to obtain insulation characteristics. The experimental results show that the dielectric breakdown of the sample with a strain 20% was 50% lower than the unaged sample; thereby, demonstrating that the mechanical strain that occurred in the submarine cables can weaken the insulation characteristics. Therefore, mechanical strain should be monitored when laying and operating submarine cables for offshore wind farms.

The measurement of strain under an electric field has been widely employed to comprehend the fundamental principles of electro-mechanical responses in ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and electrostrictive materials. In particular, understanding the strain properties of piezoelectric materials in response to electrical stimulation is crucial for researching and developing components such as piezoelectric actuators, acoustic devices, and ultrasonic generators. This tutorial paper introduces the components and operational principles of the linear variable differential transducer (LVDT), a widely used displacement measurement device in various industries. Additionally, we present the configuration of an experimental setup using LVDT to measure the strain characteristics of ferroelectric, piezoelectric, or electrostrictive materials under the application of an electric field. This paper includes simple measurement results and analyses obtained through the LVDT experimental setup, providing valuable information on research methods for the electro-mechanical interactions of various materials.

Piezoelectric ceramics play an important role in electrical and electronic devices such as sensors, actuators, and microelectronic devices. However, traditional ceramics are difficult to be used in various process industries due to their high brittleness and low flexibility. Therefore, piezoelectric paint sensors have been designed for application to the curved surfaces of complicated structures. Furthermore, recently, significant attention has been focused on the development of paint sensors that can be used as structure health monitoring sensors for vibration, impact, and acoustic emission. Several studies have successfully demonstrated the possibility that smart paint sensors can take the place of traditional ceramic sensors. In this review, we briefly introduce the concept of the piezoelectric paint sensors and the expected application field as well as their preparation and history.

An algorithm was developed to detect and block serial arc currents using HPF. The AC series arc problem is that the load current is greater than the fault current and no leakage current occurs. As a solution, an arc detection method utilizing differences in high- frequency amplitudes was developed. HPT was applied to the load current and FFT was applied to eliminate low frequencies. An algorithm has been developed to detect arc waveforms when they exceed a certain value compared to the average of normal waveforms. Using one cycle of data, arc detection is faster and arc accidents are prevented.

The templated grain growth (TGG) method has gained significant attention for its ability to produce highly textured piezoelectric ceramics with significantly enhanced performance, making it a promising method for transducer and actuator applications. However, the texturing process using the TGG method requires the optimization of multiple steps, which can be challenging for beginners in this field. Therefore, in this tutorial, we provide an overview of the TGG method mainly based on our previous published works, including its various processing steps such as synthesizing anisotropic-shaped templates with size and size distribution control using the molten salt synthesis technique, tape casting, and identifying key factors for proper alignment of the templates in the target matrix system. Our goal is to provide a resource that can serve as a basic reference for researchers and engineers looking to improve their understanding and utilization of the TGG method for producing textured piezoelectric ceramics.

Piezoelectric actuators, which utilize piezoelectric crystals or ceramics, are commonly used in precision positioning applications, offering high-speed response and precise control. However, the use of low-performance ceramics and expensive single crystals is limiting their versatile use in the actuator market, necessitating the development of both high-performance and cost-effective piezoelectric materials capable of delivering higher forces and displacements. The use of textured Pb (lead)-based piezoelectric ceramics formed by so-called templated grain growth method has been identified as a promising strategy to address the performance and cost issue. This review article provides insights into recent advances in texturing Pb-based piezoelectric ceramics for improved performance in actuation applications. We discussed the relevant issues in detail focusing on current challenges and emerging trends in the textured piezoelectric ceramics for their reliability and performance in actuator applications. We discussed in detail focusing on current challenges and emerging trends of textured piezoelectric ceramics for their reliability and performance in actuator applications. In conclusion, the article provides an outlook on the future direction of textured piezoelectric ceramics in actuator applications, highlighting the potential for further success in this field.

The characteristics of write discharge were investigated when the conventional driving method with the unipolar sustain voltages, and the single sustain driving method applying the bipolar sustain voltage were applied in an AC plasma display. In the case of having a single sustain waveform, the strength of the write discharge is weakened compared to the conventional driving method during the address period, because the wall charge inside the panel is more dissipated by the lower scanning voltage. In the driving method with a single sustain waveform, the bias voltage of the other electrodes was changed to improve the write discharge characteristics. As a result, the intensity of the discharge was enhanced by 32% and the delay time was shortened by 60 μs.

In functional materials, in situ experimental techniques as a function of external stimulus (e.g., electric field, magnetic field, light, etc.) or changes in ambient environments (e.g., temperature, humidity, pressure, etc.) are highly essential for analyzing how the physical properties of target materials are activated/evolved by the given stimulation. In particular, in situ electric-field-dependent X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements have been extensively utilized for understanding the underlying mechanisms of the emerging electromechanical responses to external electric field in various ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and electrostrictive materials. This tutorial article briefly introduces basic principles/key concepts of in situ electric-field-dependent XRD analysis using a lab-scale XRD machine. We anticipate that the in situ XRD method provides a practical tool to systematically identify/monitor a structural modification of various electromechanical materials driven by applying an external electric field.

Energy storage capacitors based on dielectric ceramics with superior polarization properties and dielectric constant can provide much higher output power density due to their very fast energy charging/discharging rates, which are particularly suitable for operating pulsed-power devices. For an outstanding energy storage performance of dielectric capacitor, a large recoverable energy density could be derived by introducing a slim polarization-electric field hysteresis loop into dielectric materials by various technical approaches. Many research teams have explored various dielectric capacitor technologies to demonstrate high output power density and ultrafast charging/discharging behavior. This article reviews the recent research progress in high-performance dielectric capacitors for pulsed-power electronic applications.

AGZO thin films were deposited on glass substrates using RF magnetron sputtering system under Ar flow rates, and their structural, electrical, and optical properties were analyzed systematically. As a result of the XRD pattern, the peak of the (002) (2θ≈33.7˚) orientation was observed, and it was found to have a hexagonal wurtzite structure. The sheet resistance of Ar 5 sccm was 3.073×10² Ω/sq and showed the best electrical properties because of the improvement of mobility due to the increase of the grain size and the variation of RMS roughness. In addition, the average transmittance was more than 90% for all samples, which demonstrated good optical properties. It is expected that the TCO characteristics can be improved by controlling Ar flow rates, and this will increase the efficiency of photoelectronic devices such as OLED and solar cells.

In this study, ZnO:Ga thin films were fabricated on a glass substrate using various Ar flows by an RF magnetron sputter system at room temperature. The dependencies of Ar flow on different properties were investigated. An appropriate control over the Ar flow led to the formation of a high-quality thin film. The ZnO:Ga films were formed as a hexagonal wurtzite structure with high (002) preferential orientation. The films exhibited a typical columnar microstructure and a smooth top face. The average transmittance was 85~89% within the visible area. By decreasing the Ar flow, the sheet resistance was decreased due to an increase in the grain size and a decrease in the root mean square roughness. The lowest sheet resistance of 86 Ω/□ was obtained at room temperature for the 40 sccm Ar flow.

BaTiO₃ powder was synthesized by a solid-state reaction using BaCO₃ and TiO₂. Different calcination temperatures (800℃, 850℃, 900℃, and 950℃) were set to investigate their effects on the properties of BaTiO₃ powder. The synthesized BaTiO₃ phase was confirmed to be a single phase by XRD, and the tetragonality (c/a) and crystallite size were calculated. Thereafter, each calcinated BaTiO₃ was sintered at five different sintering temperatures (1,100℃, 1,150℃, 1,200℃, 1,250℃, and 1,300℃), and the tetragonality, density, porosity, dielectric constant, and grain size were measured. As the calcination temperature increased, the tetragonality and crystallite size also increased, to 1.008 and 66 nm, respectively, at 950℃. Moreover, most pellets showed increased density, dielectric constant, and tetragonality as the sintering temperature increased up to 1,250℃; the same parameters slightly decreased at 1,300℃. It is noteworthy that the tetragonality of BaTiO₃ at 1,250℃ exhibits a very high c/a value of 1.0084. In addition, the grain size and dielectric constant measured near the Curie temperature increased as the sintering temperature increased.

Grain boundaries play a major role in determining device performance, particularly of polysilicon-based photodetectors. Through the post-annealing of as-deposited polysilicon and then, the analysis of electric behavior for a metal-polysilicon-metal (MSM) photodetector, we were able to identify the influence of grain boundaries. A modified model of polysilicon grain boundaries in the MSM structure is presented, which uses a crystalline-interfacial layer-SiO_x layer- interfacial layer-crystalline system that is similar to the Si-SiO₂ system in MOS device. Hydrogen passivation was achieved through a hydrogen ion implantation process and was used to passivate the defects at both interfacial layers. The thin SiO_x layer at the grain boundary can enhance the photosensitivity of an MSM photodetector by decreasing the dark current and increasing the light absorption.

This study proposes a crack identification algorithm to analyze the surface condition of porcelain insulators and to efficiently visualize cracks. The proposed image processing algorithm for crack identification consists of two primary steps. In the first step, the brightness is eliminated by converting the image to the lab color space. Then, the background is removed by the K-means clustering method. After that, the optimum image treatment is applied using morphological image processing and median filtering to remove unnecessary noise, such as blobs. In the second step, the preprocessed image is converted to grayscale, and any cracks present in the image are identified. Next, the region properties, such as the number of pixels and the ratio of the major to the minor axis, are used to separate the cracks from the noise. Using this image processing algorithm, the precision of crack identification for all the sample images was approximately 80%, and the F1 score was approximately 70. Thus, this method can be helpful for efficient crack monitoring.

In this paper, the effect of hot carrier injection on an n-bulk fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) is analyzed. The hot carrier injection method is applied to determine the performance change after injection in two ways, channel hot electron (CHE) and drain avalanche hot carrier (DAHC), which have the greatest effect at room temperature. The optimum condition for CHE injection is V_G=V_D, and the optimal condition for DAHC injection can be indirectly confirmed by measuring the peak value of the substrate current. Deterioration by DAHC injection affects not only hot electrons formed by impact ionization, but also hot holes, which has a greater impact on reliability than CHE. Further, we test the amount of drain voltage that can be withstood, and extracted the lifetime of the device. Under CHE injection conditions, the drain voltage was able to maintain a lifetime of more than 10 years at a maximum of 1.25 V, while DAHC was able to achieve a lifetime exceeding 10 years at a 1.05-V drain voltage, which is 0.2 V lower than that of CHE injection conditions.

This study examines the feasibility of the image deep learning method using convolution neural networks (CNNs) to maintain a porcelain insulator. Data augmentation is performed to prevent over-fitting, and the classification performance is evaluated by training the age, material, region, and pollution level of the insulator using image data in which the background and labelling are removed. Based on the results, it was difficult to predict the age, but it was possible to classify 76% of the materials, 60% of the pollution level, and more than 90% of the regions. From the results of this study, we identified the potential and limitations of the CNN classification for the four groups currently classified. However, it was possible to detect discoloration of the porcelain insulator resulting from physical, chemical, and climatic factors. Based on this, it will be possible to estimate the corrosion of the cap and discoloration of the porcelain caused by environmental deterioration, abnormal voltage, and lightning.

This paper investigates the soundness of porcelain insulators associated with the acoustic emission (AE) technique. The AE technique is a popular non-destructive method that measures and analyzes the burst energy that occurs mainly when a crack occurs in a high-frequency region. Typical AE methods require continuous monitoring with frequent sensor calibration. However, in this study, the AE technique excites a porcelain insulator using only an impact hammer, and it applies a high-pass filter to the signal frequency range measured only in the AE sensor by comparing the AE and the acceleration sensors. Next, the extracted time-domain signal is analyzed for the damage assessment. In normal signals, the duration is about 2ms, the area of the envelope is about 1,000, and the number of counts is about 20. In the damage signal, the duration exceeds 5ms, the area of the envelope is about 2,000, and the number of counts exceeds 40. In addition, various characteristics in the time and frequency domain for normal and damage cases are analyzed using the short-time Fourier transform (STFT). Based on the results of the STFT analysis, the maximum energy of a normal specimen is less than 0.02, while in the case of the damage specimen, it exceeds 0.02. The extracted high-frequency components can present dynamic behavior of crack regions and eigenmodes of the isolated insulator parts, but the presence, size, and distribution of cracks can be predicted indirectly. In this regard, the characteristics of the surface crack region were derived in this study.

Al₂O₃ powders with particle sizes of 0.35 μm, 0.5 μm, 1.5 μm, and 2.5 μm are deposited onto glass and Cu substrates using the aerosol deposition (AD) process. The deposition characteristics of Al₂O₃ films using those four types of Al₂O₃ powders are investigated to determine the influence of the particle size on the films. To observe detailed micro-structures of the films, the cross-section and surface morphology are observed. Then, the crystalline size and internal strain are calculated from X-ray diffraction peaks in order to confirm the hammering effect as well as the micro-strain during the AD deposition. From the above results, deposition mechanisms related to the particle size are studied. The results of this study indicate the optimal particle size and formation mechanisms for dense Al₂O₃ film with a smooth surface roughness as well as for a porous Al₂O₃ film with a rough surface roughness.

In this study, we performed the deposition of Al thin film using a DC magnetron sputtering method. To evaluate electrical and structural properties, the growth conditions were changed in terms of two functions, namely, sputtering power ranging from 41.6 to 216 W and film growth rate ranging from 5.35 to 26.39 nm/min. The growth rate and the microstructure were characterized by a scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. The plane of crystalline growth showed that the preferential (111) direction and defects due to the grain boundary increased with DC power. The resistivity of the Al film over 50 nm showed a constant value by horizontal grain growth. Our results can be applicable for the preparation of nano-templates for anodic aluminum oxide.

Porcelain insulators are typically exposed to surface discharge and lightning impulse in service. This study investigates the insulation characteristics of the external and internal discharges of a porcelain insulator with respect to its flashover for a 154 kV transmission line. The experiments are also conducted using a wet flashover test and an impulse test based on the external discharge and the internal penetration, to classify the flashover voltage-time curve of the porcelain insulator. When an impulse with a strength of 2,500 kV/μs was applied three times to 6.5 mm ceramic samples, electrical penetration of approximately 70% occurred. The impulse experiment confirmed that the electrical penetration inside the porcelain insulator coincided with the area where the electric field was concentrated. The wet flashover voltage test revealed that the flashover threshold voltage increases by approximately 7% after cleaning of the surface.

Porcelain insulators have been used for a long time in 154 kV power transmission lines. They are likely to be exposed to sudden failure because of product deterioration. This study was conducted to evaluate the quality of porcelain insulators. After stresses were applied, the damaged regions of aged insulators were investigated in terms of chemical composition, material structure, and other properties. For porcelain insulators that were in service for a long time, the mechanical failure load was 126 kN, whereas the average mechanical failure load was 167.3 kN for new products. It was also determined that corrosion occurred at the metal pin part due to the penetration of moisture into the gap between the pin and the ceramic. Statistical analyses of failure were performed to identify the portion of the insulators that were broken. Cristobalite porcelain insulators fabricated without alumina additives had a high failure rate of 54% for the porcelain component. In the case of the addition of Alumina (Al₂O₃) to the porcelain insulators to improve the strength of the ceramic component, a more frequent damage rate of the cap and pin of 73.3% and 27%, respectively, was observed. This study reports on the material component of SiO₂ and the percentage of alumina added, with respect to the mechanical properties of porcelain insulators.

It was proven that the light outputs of blue GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) was seriously influenced by the application of external stress. We have simulated the wave function overlap of an electron and hole, which are significantly reduced by the development of stress. Consequently, its internal quantum efficiency decreased from 67.0% to 37.5%. To experimentally investigate the effect of stress, we designed and prepared a special zig system. By applying external tensile stress to compensate for the compressive stress innately developed in Blue LEDs, it was found that the optical output was greatly enhanced from 83.1 mcd to 117.2 mcd at a current of 100 mA, an increase of approximately 41%. In contrast, when the compressive stress is developed more by external compressive stress, we observed that the light output power was reduced from 89.0 mcd to 80.7 mcd, a decrease of approximately 9.3%.

In this study, we investigated the crystal defects and grain boundary properties in a ZZCCC (ZnO-Zn₂BiVO₆-Co₃O₄-Cr₂O₃-CaCO₃) varistor, with the liquid-phase sintering aid Zn₂BiVO₆ developed by our laboratory. The ZZCCC varistor sintered at 1,200℃ exhibited excellent nonlinear current-voltage characteristics (α=63), with oxygen vacancy (V₀^·; 0.35 eV) as a main defect, and an apparent activation energy of 1.1 eV with an electrically single grain boundary. Therefore, among the various additives to improve the electrical properties of ZnO varistors, if Zn₂BiVO₆ is used as a liquid phase sintering aid, it will be ideal to use Co for the oxygen vacancy and Ca for the electrically single grain boundary. This will allow the good properties of ZnO varistors to be maintained up to high sintering temperatures.