Ceramics articles within Nature Materials

Featured

  • Article |

    Electrostatic capacitors can enable ultrafast energy storage and release, but advances in energy density and efficiency need to be made. Here, by doping equimolar Zr, Hf and Sn into Bi4Ti3O12 thin films, a high-entropy stabilized Bi2Ti2O7 pyrochlore phase forms with an energy density of 182 J cm−3 and 78% efficiency.

    • Bingbing Yang
    • , Yang Zhang
    •  & Yuan-Hua Lin

  • Article |

    Radiation-induced segregation is widely observed in metals. Here it is discovered that radiation-induced segregation also occurs in a ceramic, with carbon atoms in silicon carbide segregating to the grain boundaries under irradiation.

    • Xing Wang
    • , Hongliang Zhang
    •  & Izabela Szlufarska

  • News & Views |

    Finding a competitor for diamond as a good heat conductor remains challenging. Measurements on crystals of cubic boron nitride demonstrate a thermal conductivity of 1,600 W m−1 K−1 at room temperature, rivalling diamond.

    • Ashutosh Giri
    •  & Patrick E. Hopkins

  • News & Views |

    A crystal structure with one-dimensional order is identified in oxide ceramics, which is distinguished from the well-known categories of solid structures and potentially provides unexpected properties.

    • Eric A. Stach

  • Letter |

    An ordered structure that has only translational periodicity in one direction— unlike the known solid categories of crystal, quasicrystal and amorphous— is discovered in MgO and Nd2O3 ceramics.

    • Deqiang Yin
    • , Chunlin Chen
    •  & Yuichi Ikuhara

  • Article |

    Ferroelectricity can be modified by domain wall strain fields that extend over nanometres. Here, with X-ray microscopy, strain fields over several micrometres are observed in BaTiO3, suggesting ferroelectricity is globally altered throughout the material.

    • Hugh Simons
    • , Astri Bjørnetun Haugen
    •  & Henning Friis Poulsen

  • Commentary |

    Humankind's aerospace aspirations are placing unprecedented demands on vehicle propulsion systems. Advanced structural ceramics are playing a key role in addressing these challenges.

    • Nitin P. Padture

  • Letter |

    Disordering in complex oxides is important for their radiation resistance. It is now shown that pyrochlores disorder by the formation of a weberite-like phase, with similar behaviour observed in spinels, adding complexity to their disordering.

    • Jacob Shamblin
    • , Mikhail Feygenson
    •  & Maik Lang

  • News & Views |

    Nacre-like bulk ceramics with a unique combination of high toughness, strength and stiffness can be produced from brittle constituents by an ice-templating approach.

    • André R. Studart

  • Article |

    The toughness of ceramic materials can be improved by introducing a polymeric or metallic ductile phase, yet most often this is at the expense of strength, stiffness and high-temperature stability. Now, a simple processing route based on widespread ceramic processing techniques is shown to produce bulk ceramics that mimic the structure of natural nacre and have a unique combination of high strength, toughness and stiffness, even at high temperatures.

    • Florian Bouville
    • , Eric Maire
    •  & Sylvain Deville

  • News & Views |

    Ceramic surfaces can be rendered hydrophobic by using polymeric modifiers, but these are not robust to harsh environments. A known family of rare-earth oxide ceramics is now found to exhibit intrinsic hydrophobicity, even after exposure to high temperatures and abrasive wear.

    • Ye Tian
    •  & Lei Jiang

  • Letter |

    Metallic and ceramic surfaces can be rendered hydrophobic through a combination of multiscale surface structures and polymeric modifiers, but the imparted hydrophobicity is not robust to harsh environments. It is now shown that the lanthanide oxide series—a class of ceramics—is intrinsically hydrophobic as a result of their unique electronic structure, even after exposure to high temperatures and abrasive wear.

    • Gisele Azimi
    • , Rajeev Dhiman
    •  & Kripa K. Varanasi

  • News & Views |

    The evolution of microcrack damage in materials under hostile thermal and mechanical conditions has now been imaged in three dimensions by real-time in situ X-ray microtomography.

    • Philip J. Withers

  • Article |

    Gathering information on the evolution of small cracks in ceramic matrix composites used in hostile environments such as in gas turbines and hypersonic flights has been a challenge. It is now shown that sequences of microcrack damage in ceramic composites under load at temperatures up to 1,750 °C can be fully resolved with the use of in situ synchrotron X-ray computed microtomography.

    • Hrishikesh A. Bale
    • , Abdel Haboub
    •  & Robert O. Ritchie

  • Letter |

    Only few magnetoelectric materials, where magnetism and ferroelectricity are coupled, are known to exist at room temperature, and in most cases the magnetoelectric coupling is weak. The discovery of strong room-temperature magnetoelectric coupling in Sr3Co2Fe24O41 at low magnetic fields is therefore a significant advance towards the practical application of multiferroics.

    • Yutaro Kitagawa
    • , Yuji Hiraoka
    •  & Tsuyoshi Kimura

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