Following a diploma in Physics at the University of Cologne (Germany), I obtained a PhD in Crystallography there in 2003, focusing on relaxor transitions in polar oxide crystals. This was followed by a postdoctoral position in Materials Sciences at the TU Darmstadt (Germany) in the group of Non-Metallic Inorganic Materials. This work was complemented by a seven-month stay as a Visiting Associate of Mechanical Engineering at the Californina Institute of Technology to learn numerical modelling methods, particularly Finite Element Modelling. I obtained my habilitation in Materials Sciences from TU Darmstadt in 2009. In 2012, I joined LIST (then CRP – Gabriel Lippmann), where I am currently working as a Lead Researcher in the R&T Group for "Chemical Processing of Transducer Materials". My research work focuses on the interaction of electromagentic fields with polar materials, typically piezo-, pyro- and ferroelectric oxide films, bulk ceramics and single crystals, but also polymers, relaxors or non-oxide piezoelectrics. This covers the frequency range from dc and low-frequency ferroelectric and piezoelectric characterization, over radio frequency, microwave and mm-wave dielectric studies and ultrasonic acoustic wave devices, to optical frequencies in the NIR/VIS/UV range for electro-optic and photovoltaic studies. In addition, the properties of dielectrics, metals and transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) for modern communication applications are studied in the GHz frequency range.
Lead Researcher in the R&T Group titled "Chemical Processing of Transducer Materials", focusing on electrical and optical characterization of (polar) oxides and metals.
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
Heat-to-Electricity Conversion Using Barium Strontium Titanate Multilayer Capacitors
Ni F., Li J., Prah U., Nouchokgwe Y., Fleming Y., Aravindhan A., Khalil M., Granzow T., Hirose S., Kovacova V., Defay E.
Advanced Science, 2026
Ti-doped Pb(Sc0.5Ta0.5)O3thin films for non-linear pyroelectric energy harvesting
Aravindhan A., Glinsek S., Granzow T., Song L., Nouchokgwe Y., Kovacova V., Defay E.
Ceramics International, vol. 51, n° 25PC, pp. 47264-47271, 2025
Ferroelectric HfO2-ZrO2 Multilayers with Reduced Wake-Up
Mandal B., Philippe A.M., Valle N., Defay E., Granzow T., Glinsek S.
ACS Omega, vol. 10, n° 13, pp. 13141-13147, 2025
