(email: paula.vilarinho@ua.pt)

 

Laboratory: Electroceramics Group (Portugal)

Address: Department of Ceramics and Glass Engineering

University of Aveiro. Campus Universitário

3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

Personal webpage: http://www.ciceco.ua.pt/

 


Abstract

Professor Paula Vilarinho group is engaged in fundamental and applied research in the synthesis, properties and processing of functional materials for electronics, microelectronics and related applications.

Professor Paula Vilarinho research focus on electrical polarization phenomena in solids, aiming to understand the mechanisms that control electrical polarization at the macroscopic and nanoscale level, and applying such understanding to the development of advanced nano and microelectronic devices. For that her group has been using electrical and structural characterization tools (impedance spectroscopy, piezo- ferroelectric analysis, scanning probe microscopy, electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, among others) at the highest level. Materials under investigation in Professor´s Vilarinho group include lead based and lead free oxide ferroelectrics, perovksite type insulators, multiferroic ferrite and manganite oxides, tellurium based oxides and piezoelectric polymers (PLLA and PVDF). Applications of these materials include memories, sensor and actuators, thermoelectric devices, tunable dielectrics, and piezoelectric platforms for tissue growth, among others.

While understanding materials properties is central in many of the R&D activities of Professor Vilarinho group, the synthesis of nanofunctional materials in different geometries (1D, 2D and 3D) at low temperatures for compatible materials integration and using low cost approaches is becoming increasingly important in the group’s research activities. Within this context the group has been exploiting hydrothermal synthesis, diphasic sol precursors, photo chemical solution and electrophoretic deposition (EPD) for the preparation of nanoparticulates, nanocomposites, thin and thick films of functional materials.

Using EPD Vilarinho´s group proposed an alternative approach to tailor the temperature coefficient of permittivity of low loss dielectric BaNd2Ti5O14 (BNT) thick films. Control of substrate constraint and sintering conditions can be used to control grain anisotropy and thus microwave material´s properties.

Professor´s Vilarinho R&D has been financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Luso American Development Foundation (FLAD), European COST Actions and European Networks.

The current research interests of Prof. Vilarinho´s group comprise the following topics: (1) Electric Field Driven Assembly Involving Ferroics for Biodevices, (2) Electrophoretic Deposition and Constrained Sintering of Functional Materials, (3) Lead Free Ferroelectrics, (4) Low Temperature, Low Cost Fabrication of Functional Materials, Structures and Systems, (5) Nanostructured Ferroelectrics and (6) Nanostructured Thermoelectrics and Grain Boundary Phenomena.

 

Selected publications

 

  • Textured Microstructure and Dielectric Properties Relationship of BaNd2Ti5O14 Thick Films Prepared by Electrophoretic Deposition, Zhi Fu, Paula M. Vilarinho, Aiying Wu, Angus I. Kingon, Advanced Functional Materials, 19, 1–11, 2009.
  • Ceramic Processing Strategies for PZT Thick Films on Copper Foils, Aiying Wu, Paula M. Vilarinho, Angus I. Kingon, Acta Materialia, 58, 2282–2290, 2010.
  • The Critical Role of Suspension Media in Electrophoretic Deposition: The Example of Low Loss Dielectric BaNd2Ti5O14 Thick Films, Paula M. Vilarinho, Zhi Fu, Aiying Wu, Angus I. Kingon, /The Journal of Physical Chemistry B/, 117, 1670−16792013. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp3062493)