Research Themes +
Energy Technologies Area (ETA) researchers are continually building on the strong scientific foundation we have developed over the past 50 years. We address the world’s most pressing climate challenges by bringing to market energy-efficient innovations across the buildings, transportation, and industrial sectors. ETA is at the forefront of developing better batteries for electric vehicles; improving the country's aging electrical grid and innovating distributed energy and storage solutions; developing grid-interactive, efficient buildings; and providing the most comprehensive market and data analysis worldwide for renewable technologies like wind and solar.
Strategic Initiatives +
The Energy Technologies Area (ETA) Strategic Plan is the guiding force for our research and development for the next ten years. It clearly charts a path toward clean-energy solutions and focuses on five detailed Strategic Initiatives. The Plan provides an in-depth look at how ETA is accelerating research to provide affordable, clean energy to all while accomplishing deep, economy-wide decarbonization, looking to avoid a rise in global average temperature while simultaneously developing solutions to increase humanity's resilience to extreme weather volatility.
Publications
News +
For media inquiries,
please contact ETA
Interim Communications Manager
Kiran Julin

kjulin@lbl.gov
About Us +
The Energy Technologies Area (ETA) is unique in translating fundamental scientific discoveries into scalable technology adoption. Our approach combines an understanding of the marketplace and the role of state and federal regulation and policies. ETA's research drives real-world, practical results that affect and improve the everyday lives of Americans and those across the globe. Saving energy and battling the Climate Crisis are key to the foundation of our research, which is driven by technoeconomic analysis and in-lab experimentation and discovery.

Configurable topological textures in strain graded ferroelectric nanoplates

Publication Type

Journal Article

Authors

Kim, K.-E., S. Jeong, K. Chu, J.H. Lee, G.-Y. Kim, F. Xue, T.Y. Koo, L.-Q. Chen, S.-Y. Choi, Ramamoorthy Ramesh, C.-H. Yang

DOI

10.1038/s41467-017-02813-5

Abstract

Topological defects in matter behave collectively to form highly non-trivial structures called topological textures that are characterised by conserved quantities such as the winding number. Here we show that an epitaxial ferroelectric square nanoplate of bismuth ferrite subjected to a large strain gradient (as much as 105 m-1) associated with misfit strain relaxation enables five discrete levels for the ferroelectric topological invariant of the entire system because of its peculiar radial quadrant domain texture and its inherent domain wall chirality. The total winding number of the topological texture can be configured from - 1 to 3 by selective non-local electric switching of the quadrant domains. By using angle-resolved piezoresponse force microscopy in conjunction with local winding number analysis, we directly identify the existence of vortices and anti-vortices, observe pair creation and annihilation and manipulate the net number of vortices. Our findings offer a useful concept for multi-level topological defect memory. © 2018 The Author(s).

Journal

Nature Communications

Volume

Year of Publication

2018

ISSN

20411723

Notes

cited By 23

Research Areas

Ramesh Lab