Electroactive Materials Characterization Lab (EMCLab)


Zoubeida Ounaies

317 Reber Building
University Park, PA 16802

814-867-4443 | zxo100@psu.edu

EMCLab Research: Active Composites for Low Voltage Applications

Nanotechnology offers opportunities to reenergize the area of smart materials by addressing current shortfalls and expanding the scope of available material space.

Dipole reorientation, non-covalent interactions and CNT capacitive network the nanocomposite route

For example, by following the nanocomposite route, one can address current state-of-the-art challenges in smart materials such as high actuation voltage, low electromechanical coupling coefficients and low blocked stress.

For this reason, a large part of the group research effort is concerned with elucidating critical aspects of the resulting nanostructured materials to determine limitations of nanoparticle-based enhancement of performance and to enable novel sensing, actuation and energy harvesting.