During the reporting period, substantial progress has been achieved in relation to all major scientific and technological objectives of the project. Three representative classes of 2D materials were successfully fabricated, including HZO thin films and heterostructures, van der Waals crystals CIPS with different stoichiometries, and ultrathin polymer films. Work on large-area graphene is ongoing and continues to be developed by the responsible partner. Growth and deposition processes were carefully optimized through improvements in crystal synthesis and the transition from the Bridgman method to a chemical transport reaction technique, alongside the refinement of the Langmuir–Blodgett method for thin-film preparation.
Notable advances were made in establishing reliable methodologies for piezoelectric characterization. It was demonstrated that the conventional Berlincourt method produces inaccurate results for these emerging materials, prompting the development of a more reliable cantilever-based evaluation approach. On the theoretical side, DFT, LGD, and finite-element modeling were successfully applied to investigate ferroelectric and piezoelectric behavior, yielding new insights into phase transitions in van der Waals 2D systems.
The project also progressed toward application-oriented outcomes. Initial demonstrators for mechanical energy harvesting were fabricated using CIPS, achieving significant piezoelectric performance comparable to established materials such as LiNbO₃. Overall, the project is on track, with strong experimental, methodological, and theoretical results that collectively advance the development of next-generation 2D piezoelectric materials and their potential technological applications.
