Research
Ferroelectrics, Piezoelectric, Tunable dielectrics, Crystal structure, Neutron diffraction, DFT
Interests
My research expertise lies in the design, synthesis, and characterization of advanced functional ceramics, with a particular focus on ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and tunable dielectric materials. I specialize in structural analysis using X-ray and neutron diffraction, as well as the study of structure–property relationships to optimize material performance. My work combines solid-state chemistry, advanced materials processing techniques, and multi-scale characterization, aimed at developing next-generation materials for energy storage, sensing and wireless communication applications.
Publications

Publications of specific relevance to the Centre for Electronics
2025
Strategic optimization of polar nanoregions for superior dielectric tunability in PMNPT-based ceramicsHu Z Han B Zhang H Wang G Yan H
Journal of The European Ceramic Society,
Elsevier vol. 45 (16)
01-12-2025
Engineering polar nanoclusters for enhanced microwave tunability in ferroelectric thin filmsRuan H Zhang H Roddatis V Pal S Briscoe J Saunders TG Tang X Yan H et al.
Nature Communications,
Springer Nature vol. 16 (1)
31-10-2025
Phase transformation in lead titanate based relaxor ferroelectrics with ultra-high strainZhang H Li Z Wang Y Fortes AD Saunders TG Hao Y Abrahams I Yan H et al.
Nature Communications,
Springer Nature vol. 16 (1)
18-02-2025
Non-volatile voltage-controlled magnetization in single-phase multiferroic ceramics at room temperatureHu Z Stenning GBG Zhang H Shi Y Koval V Hu W Zhou Z Jia C et al.
Journal of Materiomics,
Elsevier vol. 11 (1)
01-01-20252024
The effect of configurational entropy and refractory elements on the oxidation behaviour of high entropy carbides containing up to eight refractory elementsWang Y Wang X Zhang B Zhang H Reece MJ
Ceramics International,
Elsevier vol. 50 (23), 51589-51595.
01-12-2024
Establishing room-temperature multiferroic behaviour in bismuth-based perovskitesCao J Yang B Smith G Mahajan A Zhang H Lin Y Yu C Koval V et al.
Materials & Design,
Elsevier vol. 248
01-12-2024
Accelerated discovery of perovskite solid solutions through automated materials synthesis and characterizationOmidvar M Zhang H Ihalage AA Saunders TG Giddens H Forrester M Haq S Hao Y
Nature Communications,
Springer Nature vol. 15 (1)
02-08-2024
Thermal properties and calcium-magnesium-alumino-silicate (CMAS) interaction of novel γ-phase ytterbium-doped yttrium disilicate (γ-Y1.5Yb0.5Si2O7) environmental barrier coating materialZhang B Zhang H Bai M Du A Owusu EB Lynam A Romero AR Curry N et al.
Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials,
Springer Nature vol. 7 (2)
01-04-2024
Microwave tunability in tin substituted barium titanateZhang H Giddens H Saunders TG Palma M Abrahams I Yan H Hao Y
Journal of The European Ceramic Society,
Elsevier vol. 44 (3), 1627-1635.
01-03-2024
Origin of Polarization in Bismuth Sodium Titanate-Based CeramicsZhang H Krynski M Fortes AD Saunders TG Palma M Hao Y Krok F Yan H et al.
Journal of The American Chemical Society,
American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 146 (8), 5569-5579.
14-02-20242023
Structure and dielectric properties in Mg/Nb co-substituted bismuth sodium titanateZhang H Yan H Abrahams I
Journal of Alloys and Compounds,
Elsevier vol. 969
01-12-2023
Carbon deficiency introduced plasticity of rock-salt-structured transition metal carbidesZhang B Wang Y Yin J Wang Y Zhang H Csanádi T Dusza J Reece MJ et al.
Journal of Material Science and Technology,
Elsevier vol. 164, 205-214.
01-11-2023
Microwave characterization of two Ba 0.6 Sr 0.4 TiO 3 dielectric thin films with out-of-plane and in-plane electrode structuresRuan H Saunders TG Giddens H Zhang H Ihalage AA Kolb JF Blunt M Haq S et al.
Journal of Advanced Ceramics,
Tsinghua University Press vol. 12 (8), 1521-1532.
01-08-2023
Enhanced piezoelectricity in Na and Ce co-doped CaBi 4 Ti 4 O 15 ceramics for high-temperature applicationsHu Z Koval V Zhang H Chen K Yue Y Zhang D Yan H
Journal of Advanced Ceramics,
Tsinghua University Press vol. 12 (7), 1331-1344.
01-07-2023
Relaxor ferroelectric behaviour observed in (Ca0.5Sr0.5Ba0.5Pb0.5)Nb2O7 perovskite layered structure ceramicsHu Z Zhang H Reece MJ Viola G Yan H
Journal of The European Ceramic Society,
Elsevier vol. 43 (1), 177-182.
01-01-2023
Deciphering the peculiar hysteresis loops of 0.05Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3–0.95Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 piezoelectric ceramicsHu Z Zhang H Zhu Z Zeng J Zhang D Eriksson M Viola G Yan H
Acta Materialia,
Elsevier vol. 244
01-01-20232022
Antiferroelectric-like Behavior in a Lead-Free Perovskite Layered Structure CeramicZhang H Fortes AD Giddens H Saunders TG Palma M Abrahams I Yan H Hao Y
Inorganic Chemistry,
American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 61 (50), 20316-20325.
06-12-2022
Low thermal conductivity in A-site high entropy perovskite relaxor ferroelectricXiong W Zhang H Hu Z Reece MJ Yan H
Applied Physics Letters,
Aip Publishing vol. 121 (11)
12-09-2022
Ablation behavior of (Hf–Ta–Zr–Nb–Ti)C high‐entropy carbide and (Hf–Ta–Zr–Nb–Ti)C–xSiC compositesWang Y Yu D Yin J Zhang B Zhang H Liu X An Y Reece MJ et al.
Journal of The American Ceramic Society,
Wiley vol. 105 (10), 6395-6406.
23-06-2022
Synthesis, microstructure, and mechanical properties of novel high entropy carbonitridesWang Y Csanádi T Zhang H Dusza J Reece MJ
Acta Materialia,
Elsevier vol. 231
01-06-2022
Chemical Solution Deposition of Single‐Phase BiFeO3 Thin Films on Transparent SubstratesWang Y Zhang M Yue Y Zhang H Mahajan A Dunn S Yan H
Solar Rrl,
Wiley vol. 6 (7)
01-05-20222021
Terahertz Characterization of Lead-Free Dielectrics for Different ApplicationsZhang M Zhang H Jiang Q Gao F Chen R Zhang D Reece MJ Yang B et al.
Acs Applied Materials & Interfaces,
American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 13 (45), 53492-53503.
02-11-2021
Characterization of microwave and terahertz dielectric properties of single crystal La2Ti2O7 along one single directionZhang M Tang Z Zhang H Smith G Jiang Q Saunders T Yang B Yan H
Journal of The European Ceramic Society,
Elsevier vol. 41 (14), 7375-7379.
01-11-2021
Low-loss high entropy relaxor-like ferroelectrics with A-site disorderXiong W Zhang H Cao S Gao F Svec P Dusza J Reece MJ Yan H
Journal of The European Ceramic Society,
Elsevier vol. 41 (4), 2979-2985.
01-04-2021
Effect of processing on the structures and properties of bismuth sodium titanate compoundsMahajan A Zhang H Wu J Venkata Ramana E Yu C Tarakina NV Reece MJ Yan H
Journal of Materials Research,
Springer Nature vol. 36 (5), 1195-1205.
13-01-2021
Perovskite Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-based materials for dielectric capacitors with ultrahigh thermal stabilityWu J Zhang H Meng N Koval V Mahajan A Gao Z Zhang D Yan H
Materials & Design,
Elsevier vol. 198
01-01-2021
Investigation of transitions between the M-phases in AgNbO 3 based ceramicsYan Z Zhang D Zhou X Zhang M Zhang L Zhang H Xue G Abrahams I et al.
Journal of Materials Chemistry A,
Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 9 (6), 3520-3529.
01-01-2021
Tunable phase transitions in NaNbO 3 ceramics through bismuth/vacancy modificationZhang L Yan Z Chen T Luo H Zhang H Khanom T Zhang D Abrahams I et al.
Journal of Materials Chemistry C,
Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 9 (12), 4289-4299.
01-01-20212020
High Tunability and Low Loss in Layered Perovskite Dielectrics through Intrinsic Elimination of Oxygen VacanciesZhang H Gidden H Saunders TG Liu N Aurallo-Peters V Xu X Palma M Reece MJ et al.
Chemistry of Materials,
American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 32 (23), 10120-10129.
17-11-2020
Polar nano-clusters in nominally paraelectric ceramics demonstrating high microwave tunability for wireless communicationZhang H Giddens H Yue Y Xu X Araullo-Peters V Koval V Palma M Abrahams I et al.
Journal of The European Ceramic Society,
Elsevier vol. 40 (12), 3996-4003.
01-09-2020
Enhanced Hardness in High‐Entropy Carbides through Atomic RandomnessWang Y Csanádi T Zhang H Dusza J Reece MJ Zhang R
Advanced Theory and Simulations,
Wiley vol. 3 (9)
13-08-2020
Antimony substituted lanthanum orthoniobate proton conductor – Structure and electronic propertiesMielewczyk‐Gryń A Wachowski S Witkowska A Dzierzgowski K Skubida W Świerczek K Regoutz A Payne DJ et al.
Journal of The American Ceramic Society,
Wiley vol. 103 (11), 6575-6585.
19-07-2020
Terahertz Probing Irreversible Phase Transitions Related to Polar Clusters in Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3‐Based FerroelectricWu J Sun W Meng N Zhang H Koval V Zhang Y Donnan R Yang B et al.
Advanced Electronic Materials,
Wiley vol. 6 (4)
16-02-2020
The crystallization, thermodynamic and thermoelectric properties of vast off-stoichiometric Sn–Se crystalsLiu M Zhang J Xu J Hu B Sun K Yang Y Wang J Du B et al.
Journal of Materials Chemistry C,
Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 8 (19), 6422-6434.
01-01-2020
Interactive human–machine learning framework for modelling of ferroelectric–dielectric compositesLiu N Ihalage A Zhang H Giddens H Yan H Hao Y
Journal of Materials Chemistry C,
Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 8 (30), 10352-10361.
01-01-2020
Structure and dielectric properties of double A-site doped bismuth sodium titanate relaxor ferroelectrics for high power energy storage applicationsZhang H Yang B Fortes AD Yan H Abrahams I
Journal of Materials Chemistry A,
Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 8 (45), 23965-23973.
01-01-20202019
Isolation of a ferroelectric intermediate phase in antiferroelectric dense sodium niobate ceramicsZhang H Yang B Yan H Abrahams I
Acta Materialia,
Elsevier vol. 179, 255-261.
01-10-2019
Crystal structure and electrical properties of textured Ba2Bi4Ti5O18 ceramicsCao J Koval V Zhang H Lin Y Wu J Meng N Li Y Li Z et al.
Journal of The European Ceramic Society,
Elsevier vol. 39 (4), 1042-1049.
01-04-2019
Crystal structure and improved thermoelectric performance of iron stabilized cubic Cu 3 SbS 3 compoundDu B Zhang R Liu M Chen K Zhang H Reece MJ
Journal of Materials Chemistry C,
Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 7 (2), 394-404.
01-01-20192018
Perovskite Srx(Bi1−xNa0.97−xLi0.03)0.5TiO3 ceramics with polar nano regions for high power energy storageWu J Mahajan A Riekehr L Zhang H Yang B Meng N Zhang Z Yan H
Nano Energy,
Elsevier vol. 50, 723-732.
01-08-2018
Magnéli phase titanium suboxides by Flash Spark Plasma SinteringYu M Saunders T Grasso S Mahajan A Zhang H Reece MJ
Scripta Materialia,
Elsevier vol. 146, 241-245.
01-03-2018
Bi 3.25 La 0.75 Ti 2.5 Nb 0.25 (Fe 0.5 Co 0.5 ) 0.25 O 12 , a single phase room temperature multiferroicLi Z Tao K Ma J Gao Z Koval V Jiang C Viola G Zhang H et al.
Journal of Materials Chemistry C,
Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 6 (11), 2733-2740.
01-01-20182017
Effect of Phase Transitions on Thermal Depoling in Lead-Free 0.94(Bi 0.5 Na 0.5 TiO 3 )–0.06(BaTiO 3 ) Based PiezoelectricsMahajan A Zhang H Wu J Ramana EV Reece MJ Yan H
The Journal of Physical Chemistry C,
American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 121 (10), 5709-5718.
06-03-2017
Phase transitions in bismuth-modified silver niobate ceramics for high power energy storageTian Y Jin L Zhang H Xu Z Wei X Viola G Abrahams I Yan H
Journal of Materials Chemistry A,
Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 5 (33), 17525-17531.
01-01-2017
Topochemical transformation of two-dimensional single crystalline Na 0.5 Bi 0.5 TiO 3 –BaTiO 3 platelets from Na 0.5 Bi 4.5 Ti 4 O 15 precursors and their piezoelectricityJiang C Zhang D Zhou K Yan H Zhang H Abrahams I
Journal of Materials Chemistry A,
Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 5 (30), 15780-15788.
01-01-20172016
Lead free Bi3TaTiO9 ferroelectric ceramics with high Curie pointSun Y Li Z Zhang H Yu C Viola G Fu S Koval V Yan H
Materials Letters,
Elsevier vol. 175, 79-81.
01-07-2016
High energy density in silver niobate ceramicsTian Y Jin L Zhang H Xu Z Wei X Politova ED Stefanovich SY Tarakina NV et al.
Journal of Materials Chemistry A,
Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 4 (44), 17279-17287.
01-01-20162015
Incorporation of Ag nanowires in CuWO 4 for improved visible light-induced photoanode performanceZhang H Yilmaz P Ansari JO Khan FF Binions R Krause S Dunn S
Journal of Materials Chemistry A,
Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 3 (18), 9638-9644.
01-01-2015