Advanced Oxide Materials − Growth, Application, Characterization

Abstract

In the present issue of Physica Status Solidi A readers will find a set of papers submitted by the participants of the 2017 E-MRS Fall Meeting Symposium N: Advanced Oxide Materials − Growth, Application, Characterization. The 2017 E-MRS Fall Meeting was held in Warsaw, September 18th – 21st. The Symposium N covered current topics of multiple functional and multifunctional oxides and comprised new trends in experimental as well as theoretical research. It was devoted to bulk and surface properties, films, nanocrystals, electronic, optical and magnetic properties with special attention paid to structure − property relationships. The presented papers demonstrate that physicochemical properties of oxides can be tuned by multitude of parameters, such as composition, temperature, pressure, strain, external fields, defects, film orientation and nanoparticle size. Detailed structure-property analysis and understanding of the physicochemical properties of the oxides are prerequisites to improve materials properties, and to spur development of new oxide materials. The Symposium N drew great attention − it was the second largest symposium among the 23 E-MRS Fall 2017 symposia. 178 abstracts were received from 36 countries with attendances from Poland (26), France (16), Germany (15), Korea (14) and Japan (11) (see Figure 1). A total number of 165 presentations were given, 20 as invited lectures, 45 as orals and over 100 as poster presentations. Among these, 13 oral and 26 poster presentations were given by students. Most of them were at an extraordinary high scientific level, so the competition for the best student oral and the best student poster presentation was a challenging task. Finally, Johanna Jochum from KU Leuven, Belgium received the best student oral Symposium N award for her excellent talk on Improved magnetoelectric coupling strength in BaTiO3-BiFeO3 superlatices. The Symposium N Scientific Committee decided to highlight two more excellent talks: Maximilian Schaube from MPI for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany (Influencing the Oxygen Surface Exchange Reaction on Ceria by Dopants) and Esteban Rucavado from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland (Unraveling and tuning defects in indium-free transparent conductive oxides). The best student poster Symposium N award was given to Chethana Gadiyar from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, for her poster Nanocrystal seeded growth for nanostructured multinary metal oxides as photoanodes for the water splitting reaction. Symposium N organizers also decided to highlight another excellent poster p-type Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Mg-doped CuCrO2 Nanofiber presented by Ismail Cihan Kaya from Ismail University in Turkey. The scope of the symposium was very broad and, accordingly, the proceeding papers represent varying subjects ranging from synthesis (electrospinning, atomic layer deposition, magnetron sputtering, electrodeposition) to different applications (ZnO-based thin-film transistors, high-k dielectric charge-trapping memories, RE doped high-temperature superconductors, ZnO:Al nanosensors and nanodetectors, ZnO:RE light emitters). The high attendance at the Symposium N reflects a growing interest in advanced oxides, which are becoming increasingly important materials in new generation of advanced solid state devices. Consequently, it is worth considering organizing related symposia in the forthcoming E-MRS meetings. Elżbieta Guziewicz, Albena Paskaleva, Mato Knez, and Lars Österlund