Various facets of ferroelectrics as functional materials: an informative review.

Nature has always amused us; sometimes it holds us in awe and sometimes it leaves us spellbound with its mysterious and inscrutable ways of working. The most significant and fundamental understanding of materials observed today is based on their constituent elements and position of the elements in the periodic table; which decides their property, behavior, reactivity and affinity with other elements. Given this primary aspects what comes secondary is the specificity or the multiplicity of functions that can be achieved from a material. In the present era, there is an incredible and massive increase in the number of functional materials to meet the ever-increasing need of electronic devices and their miniaturization. Functional materials have carved a special niche for itself in the field of material science. This review is exclusively intended to highlight and satiate the academic curiosity of novices about functional aspects of ferroelectric materials. It explores the various intricate and inherent principles and mechanisms which underpins the functional dimensions of ferroelectric materials. Ferroelectrics span a huge fraction of functional materials. Phenomenon like photovoltaic effect in ferroelectric materials, ferroelectric emission of electrons and their multifaceated applications are also discussed. Low dimensional ferroelectrics and their multifunctional prospects are also briefly covered in this review. It also includes brief idea of ferroelectric meta-materials, dielectric super-capacitors and its advantage over other preexisting ones. It is mostly informative and resourceful in providing multifunctional aspects of ferroelectrics. This review assures researchers who are genuinely interested in broadening their information base along with getting a fresh perspective into this emerging field of ferroelectrics as functional materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]