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
2026
Grain Size-Dependent Defect and Domain Evolution in Lead Titanate-Based Relaxor FerroelectricsZhang H Wang Y Li Z Oh S Liu J Yan H Hao Y Su L
Acs Applied Materials & Interfaces,
American Chemical Society (Acs) vol. 18 (17), 24889-24898.
22-04-2026
Flexible Ultrasound Sensor Based on ErPMNPT Ceramics for Vascular MonitoringLi Z Wang X Liu D Wang Y Lindsey B Bartlett M Abrahams I Busfield J et al.
IEEE Sensors Journal,
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) vol. 26 (9), 13915-13925.
01-01-20262025
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
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.
01-01-2017
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.
01-01-20172016
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