Dr. Jiawang Hong is currently working as a Professor at Beijing Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. degree from Tsinghua University and spent one year at the University of Cambridge as a visiting student during his Ph.D. study. He then spent three years at Rutgers University and three years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory as postdoc before joining in Beijing Institute of Technology. His research interests focus on an atomic-level designing and understanding of the novel physical and mechanical properties in functional materials and energy materials, from first-principles calculations and inelastic neutron/x-ray scattering measurements.

Abstract：

Flexoelectricity describes the linear coupling between electric polarization and a strain gradient. Different from the piezoelectricity which only exists in noncentrosymmetric materials, flexoelectricity is always symmetry allowed and exists in all dielectrics because a strain gradient automatically breaks the inversion symmetry. In addition, flexoelectricity can have a significant effect on the properties of nanostructures because the strain gradients are typically much larger at the nanoscale than at macroscopic scales. In this talk, I will present the novel flexoelectric effects in some new nanostructures, such as freestanding perovskites, two-dimensional ferroelectric materials. The underlying mechanism will also be discussed.