New Ceramics for Electronics and Energy Conversion

[Translate to Englisch:] By Birgit Baustädter Jurij Koruza and his team are working on electroceramics that are used in electronic devices. The team is part of a new and highly endowed collaborative research centre led by TU Darmstadt. Electroceramics are at the core of many electronic components. A mobile phone, for example, contains about 500 capacitors consisting of several layers of ceramic and metal. "In ceramics, we can very easily and specifically adjust material's properties required for the respective application," explains TU Graz materials scientist Jurij Koruza, Institute for Chemistry and Technology of Materials at TU Graz. "And they can also operate under severe conditions, such as high temperatures." When we talk about "ceramics" at TU Graz, we are not talking about ceramics in the conventional sense - i.e. as a material for plates, cups and other tableware. Instead, we are talking about so-called functional ceramics that are designed to fulfil certain tasks - some are highly conductive, for example, or can catalyse reactions.