Lead-free bismuth sodium titanate (BNT)-based ceramics have attracted strong attention as environmentally benign dielectric materials for high-efficiency electrostatic energy-storage capacitors. A key challenge is that pristine BNT typically exhibits large hysteresis, high remnant polarization, and limited dielectric reliability, which restrict recoverable energy storage and efficiency under practical electric fields. Here, we present a focused mini-review of recent studies to clarify how composition design, phase boundary tuning, defect chemistry, and microstructural control collectively enable slim or pinched polarization-electric field (P-E) behavior and improved energy-storage functionality in BNT-related bulk ceramics. The reviewed outcomes consistently show that stabilizing relaxor states governed by polar nanoregions (PNRs), often via solid-solution engineering and secondary relaxor/antiferroelectric-like incorporation, suppresses irreversible switching and reduces hysteresis loss, while densification and grain-size control enhance electrical homogeneity and breakdown strength. In addition, defect-mediated tuning of oxygen vacancy-related complexes is highlighted as an independent lever to control relaxor ergodicity and polarization reversibility, providing a complementary route to slim-loop optimization. These insights are expected to guide integrated design strategies that couple phase/relaxor-state engineering with defect and microstructure optimization, accelerating the development of reliable, temperature-robust, lead-free dielectric capacitors based on BNT-related ceramics.

MoS₂ has attracted significant attention as a next-generation semiconductor material to overcome the physical scaling limits of silicon-based devices due to its atomic thinness and excellent electrical properties. However, high contact resistance and the formation of Schottky barriers resulting from interface defects during the metal deposition process remain major bottlenecks that degrade overall device performance and reliability. In this study, we fabricated MoS₂ FETs by employing Sb₂Te₃, van der Waals (vdW) contacts. Minimized interface inhomogeneity was achieved through a hemispherical stamp-based dry transfer of h-BN for device encapsulation. h-BN encapsulation decreased the hysteresis window in the ±25 V gate voltage range from 17 V to 11.5 V compared to un-capped devices, confirming that charge trapping phenomena induced by external environmental factors were suppressed. Consequently, the dry transfer technique of h-BN using a hemispherical stamp demonstrated in this study provides a potential solution for securing the long-term reliability of MoS₂ devices with vdW contact by minimizing interface contamination.

Recently, with the development of the smart device market, the integration of high-functional devices has increased the heat density, causing overload of the device, and resulting in various problems such as shortened lifespan, performance degradation, and failure. Therefore, research on heat dissipation materials is being actively conducted to realize next-generation electronic products. The heat dissipation material is characterized in that it is easy to dissipate heat due to its high thermal conductivity and minimizes leakage current flowing through the heat dissipation material due to its low electrical conductivity. In this study, flower-shaped Al₂O₃ and BN composites were engineered with a simple hydrothermal synthesis approach, and their thermal conductivity characteristics were compared and evaluated for each synthesis condition for the application to a heat dissipation material. Spherical BN and flower-shaped Al₂O₃ were easily obtained, and SEM/EDS analyses confirmed the uniform presence of BN between the Al₂O₃, and it can be expected that these shapes can affect the thermal conductivity.

In this study, TiN-coated cBN (cubic-structure boron nitride) powders were successfully synthesized by a sol-gel method using titanium (IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) and by controlling the heat treatment conditions. After the sol-gel process, amorphous nano-sized TiOx was uniformly coated on the surface of cBN powder particles. The obtained TiOx-coated cBN powders were heated at 1,000~1,300℃ for 1 or 6 h in a flow of 95%N2-5%H2 mixed gas. With increasing temperature, the chemical composition of the TiOx coating layer changed in the order of TiO₂→Ti₆O₁₁→Ti₄O₇→TiN due to reduction of the Ti ions. The TiN coating layer was observable in the samples heated at 1,200℃ and appeared as the main phase in the sample heated at 1,300℃. The resulting thickness of the TiN coating layer of the sample heated at 1,300℃ was approximately 45~50 nm.

Boron nitride (BN) nanofibers were fabricated using BN nanoparticles (70 nm) by electrospinning. Morphologies such as the diameter and density of the BN nanofibers are strongly influenced by the viscosity and dispersion state of the precursor solution. In this study, the precursor solution was prepared by ball milling BN nanoparticles and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP, Mw~1,300,000) in ethanol, which was electrospun and then calcined to produce BN fibers. High-quality BN nanofibers were well fabricated at a BN concentration of 15 wt% with their diameters in the range of 500 nm to 800 nm; the viscosity of the precursor solution was 400 mPa·S. The calcination of the as-electrospun BN fibers seemed to be completed by holding them at 350℃ for 2 h considering the TGA data. The morphologies and phases of the BN fibers were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD), respectively; Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) was also used for structure analysis.

In this study, (1-x)(Na_0.52K_0.443Li_0.037)(Nb_0.883Sb_0.08Ta_0.037)O₃-x(Bi_0.5(Na_0.7K_0.3)_0.5ZrO₃ ceramics were fabricated by BNKZ substitution using a conventional solid-state method to develop excellent lead-free piezoelectric ceramics for piezoelectric actuators; their dielectric and piezoelectric properties were then investigated. All specimens were in the orthorhombic phase. NKL-NSTO₃ ceramics with x=0.01 showed excellent piezoelectric properties. The density (ρ), piezoelectric charge constant (d₃₃), planar piezoelectric coupling coefficient (k_p), mechanical quality factor (Q_m), and dielectric constant (ε_r) had optimized values of 4.56 g/㎤, 208 pC/N, 0.43, 96, and 975, respectively.

In this work, in order to develop the ceramics with an excellent electrocaloric effect, [Bi0.5(Na0.84K0.16)0.5]TiO3 ceramics were fabricated by conventional solid state reaction method. The ceramics was observed as rhombohedral phase by X-ray diffraction patterns. To investigate the electrocaloric effect of the ceramics, P-E hysteresis loops were measured at various temperature. The temperature change ΔT of these ceramics was calculated using the Maxwell``s relations. The maximum value of temperature change ΔT was obtained as 0.3 1℃ at 165℃ under applied electric fields 45 kV/cm.

We investigated the dielectric and mechanical properties of ceramic polymer composite xBNT - (1-x)LCP (x= 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 vol.%). The disk shaped BNT (BaNd2Ti4O12) - LCP (liquid crystal polymer) composite samples were prepared by compression molding method. With increasing the BNT content in composites from 10 to 40 vol.%, the dielectric constant increased but the dielectric loss as well as bending strength of composites reduced. These composites were well described with modified Lichtenecker`s model having k = 0.392 and 0.303 for the first and second ball milled BNT filled composites, which means that the BNT filler in composites are well dispersed. The dielectric constant of the composite comprised of the second milled BNT (D50 = 1.39 um) was higher that of the composite of the first milled BNT (D50= 2.45 um), which seems to be related with the different particle size and dispersion of BNT fillers in LCP matrix. The bending strength of the composite containing the second milled BNT was superior to that of the composite of the first milled BNT.

Nd and Ti co-doped bismuth ferrite (Bi1-xNdx)(Fe1-yTiy)O3 (x, y=0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2) ceramics and thin films were synthesized through the conventional mixed-oxide process and pulsed laser deposition (PLD), respectively. Nd and Ti co-doping effect was examined with emphasis on how these impurities affect phase formation behavior as there could be the improvement in leakage current problems often associated with multiferroic BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films. The lattice constants of BFO ceramics decreased with Nd doping concentration up to 10mol%, while they further decreased with Nd and Ti co-doping to about 20%. BFO thin films obtained by the PLD process revealed random polycrystalline structure. Similar to bulk BFO ceramic, Nd and Ti co-doping effectively suppressed the formation of unwanted secondary phase and thus stabilized the perovskite phase in BFO thin films.

In this study, piezoelectric and dielectric properties of the (Na0.5K0.5)NbO3-(1-x)(Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3- xBaTiO3 [NKN-(1-x)BNT-xBT] ceramics were investigated. The lead-free NKN-(1-x)BNT-xBT ceramics were fabricated by a conventional mixed oxide method. The results indicate that the addition of BaTiO3 significantly influences the sintering, microstructure, phase transition and electrical properties of NKN-BNT ceramics. A gradual change in the piezoelectric and dielectric properties was observed with the increase of BT contents. The dielectric constant, piezoelectric constant (d33) and electromechanical coupling factor (kp) increased at the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB). The d33=184 pC/N, kp=0.38, dielectric constant=1455 with dielectric loss value of less than 1% were obtained for the NKN-0.95BNT-0.05BT ceramics sintered at 1150℃ for 2h. These results demonstrate that the NKN-(1-x)BNT-xBT ceramics is an attractive candidate for lead-free piezoelectric materials.