Emerging Strategies for Electroceramic Preparation: Contemporary Methods and Novel Techniques

Electroceramics belong to a functional category of ceramics where the materials are specifically engineered to showcase diverse electrical properties; piezoelectric, ferroelectric, and dielectric behaviours. Electroceramics have become increasingly important in a wide range of crucial technologies, including communications, energy conversion and storage, electronics, automation, high-capacity dielectric devices, non-volatile memories, dynamic random access memory (DRAMs), as well as materials for energy storage and conversion. Furthermore, they find application in advanced high-density and high-speed computer memories. As a result, the processing techniques employed for electroceramics must be meticulously designed to produce materials of exceptional quality. There exists a diverse array of techniques for processing electroceramics, which can be applied to different forms such as bulk ceramic, nano ceramics, film, and single crystal. The objective of this chapter is to present the latest advancements in methods and technologies utilized in the processing of electroceramics. The chapter focuses on discussing the Modern approaches like solid-state synthesis, sol gel, laser ablation, spin casting, as well as advanced technologies like molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), RF magnetron sputtering, Liquid Phase Epitaxy, high temperature solution growth (HTSG) or flux growth method, Czochralski Growth, Top Seeded Solution Growth (TSSG), and Hydrothermal Growth. Dedicated sections of this chapter provide an outline of each processing technique, with a particular emphasis on novel research directions and emerging areas of applicability.