We investigated the effect of surfactants and their concentration (C sur ) on the final graphene concentration (C G ) via the liquid-phase exfoliation method. Six typical surfactants including ionic and non-ionic ones were explored and the optimized C sur for each surfactant was suggested. For ionic surfactants, C G increases with C sur before reaching its maximum and then maintains the high level. The different mechanisms of ionic and non-ionic surfactants in stabilizing graphene dispersions are explained by the theory for colloidal stability. The as-prepared graphene sheets are verified to be highly exfoliated through transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy studies, while the defect-free structure was evidenced by Raman spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Due to many potential promising applications, vibration-based piezoelectric energy harvesters (VPEH) with a clamped circular diaphragm are an intensively studied design in the field of piezoelectric energy harvesters. Nonetheless, their performance still leaves space for improvement, which is the primary target of this article. We define two structural parameters, namely the ratio ϖ1 between the bonding area and the piezoceramic diameter as well as the ratio ϖ2 between the clamping rim and the substrate diameter, to characterize these structures. A vibration model is developed in order to provide an analytical foundation for the identification of optimal parameters ϖ1 and ϖ2. It is verified by finite-element simulations and substantive experiments. The results allow to relate the device performance, including resonance frequency and output power, to ϖ1 and ϖ2. This shows that the output rises with increasing ϖ2, and that the maximum output for a given ϖ2 always lies in the range Based on this observation, an improved harvester structure with a pre-stress of 0.3 N is identified, that exhibits a matched power up to 16.3 mW at 219 Hz. This demonstrates the feasibility to achieve VPEHs with higher outputs and lower eigenfrequency through simultaneous modification of ϖ1 and ϖ2, which is highly beneficial for low-frequency energy harvesting.

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Lead-free relaxor ferroelectrics that feature a core-shell microstructure provide an excellent electromechanical response. They even have the potential to replace the environmentally hazardous lead-zirconia-titanate (PZT) in large strain actuation applications. Although the dielectric properties of core-shell ceramics have been extensively investigated, their piezoelectric properties are not yet well understood. To unravel the interfacial core-shell interaction, we studied the relaxation behaviour of field-induced ferroelectric domains in 0.75Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3-0.25SrTiO3 (BNT-25ST), as a typical core-shell bulk material, using a piezoresponse force microscope. We found that after poling, lateral domains emerged at the core-shell interface and propagated to the shell region. Phase field simulations showed that the increased electrical potential beneath the core is responsible for the in-plane domain evolution. Our results imply that the field-induced domains act as pivotal points at the coherent heterophase core-shell interface, reinforcing the phase transition in the non-polar shell and thus promoting the giant strain.

Any dielectric material under a strain gradient presents flexoelectricity. Here, we synthesized 0.75 sodium bismuth titanate −0.25 strontium titanate (NBT-25ST) core–shell nanoparticles via a solid-state chemical reaction directly inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM) and observed domain-like nanoregions (DLNRs) up to an extreme temperature of 800 °C. We attribute this abnormal phenomenon to a chemically induced lattice strain gradient present in the core–shell nanoparticle. The strain gradient was generated by controlling the diffusion of strontium cations. By combining electrical biasing and temperature-dependent in situ TEM with phase field simulations, we analyzed the resulting strain gradient and local polarization distribution within a single nanoparticle. The analysis confirms that a local symmetry breaking, occurring due to a strain gradient (i.e. flexoelectricity), accounts for switchable polarization beyond the conventional temperature range of existing polar materials. We demonstrate that polar nanomaterials can be obtained through flexoelectricity at extreme temperature by tuning the cation diffusion.