I am interested in materials able to transform one form of energy into another one, and, more specifically, in those related to electrical energy, such as piezoelectric micro-pumps, haptic actuators, mechanical or thermal energy harvesters or more recently electrocaloric solid-state coolers. I secured over the years a balanced portfolio between competitive and collaborative projects with industry. I have some experience in supervising young researchers (21 PhD students and 11 post docs). In 2024, I obtained an ERC Advanced grant on pyroelectric energy harvesting and an EIC Pathfinder as coordinator (cooling with electrocaloric polymers). The same year, I have been appointed affiliate professor in Physics and Materials Science at the University of Luxembourg.
Head of the Smart Materials Unit Head of the Ferroic Materials for Energy Harvesting Group
Tunable electrocaloric effect in lead scandium tantalate through calcium doping
Nouchokgwe Y., Fedorova N.S., Kovacova V., Biswas P., Gorican I., Suban N., Drnovsek S., Sadl M., Melchiorre M., Mukherjee B., Prah U., Nataf G.F., Granzow T., Guennou M., Ursic H., Iñiguez-González J., Defay E.
Nature Communications, vol. 17, n° 1, art. no. 5250, 2026
Solution-based fabrication of high-performance K0.5Na0.5NbO3 thin films for surface haptics
Alluri N.R., Song L., Girod S., Mandal B., Cardoletti J., Bobnar V., Granzow T., Kovacova V., Philippe A.M., Defay E., Glinsek S.
Journal of the European Ceramic Society, vol. 46, n° 6, art. no. 118077, 2026
Pyroelectric power generator for autonomous systems
Song L., Aravindhan A., Li J., Nouchokgwe Y., Khalil M., Ni F., Bousri N., Ramírez O., Polesel-Maris J., Gérard M., Glinsek S., Prah U., Bouton O., Usui T., Hirose S., Kovacova V., Defay E.
Joule, vol. 10, n° 5, art. no. 102340, 2026
Highly transparent lead-free piezoelectric haptic device
Song L., Glinsek S., Alluri N.R., Kovacova V., Melchiorr M., Martinez A.B., Mandal B., Cardoletti J., Defay E.
Communications Materials, vol. 6, n° 1, art. no. 91, 2025
Converting heat to electricity with non-linear pyroelectrics: A review
Aravindhan A., Kovacova V., Defay E.
International Materials Reviews, vol. 70, n° 7, pp. 576-611, 2025