PhD Thesis Defense by Andrea Schiaffino on 2 July 2019 at 11 am
The PhD Researcher Andrea Schiaffino from the Theory and Simulations Group at ICMAB will defend his PhD thesis on Tuesday, 2 July 2019, at 11 am at ICMAB-CSIC.
First-principles theory of flexoelectricity: methods and applications
by Andrea Schiaffino, Theory and Simulations Group, ICMAB-CSIC
Date: Tuesday, 2 July 2019 Time: 11 am Venue: Sala d'actes Carles Miravitlles, ICMAB-CSIC
Abstract: This thesis is focused on the microscopic theoretical description of flexoelectricity that is the universal property of insulators of developing a polar response to a uniform strain gradient perturbation. The first part of the presentation will cover the most recent developments concerning the calculation of the bulk flexoelectric tensor by using density functional theory, with major emphasis on introducing the original concept of the metric-wave perturbation in crystals.
In the second part, the effects of flexoelectricity in two concrete physical systems are discussed. First, the feasibility of engineering the flexoelectric response to enhance the photovoltaic performance of single crystals (flexovoltaic) is discussed; second, the origin of the polarity at the ferroelastic domain walls in SrTiO3 is analyzed using an effective model.
Supervisor:
Dr. Massimiliano Stengel, ICREA Research Professor, ICMAB-CSIC
PhD Committee:
President: Dr. Ivo Souza, Centro de Física de Materiales, Universidad del País Vasco, Ikerbasque Foundation, Spain
Secretary: Dr. Gustau Catalan, Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), Spain
Vocal: Dr. Raffaele Resta, Istituto Officina dei Materiali, CNR (Trieste), Italy
