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Abstract

Multiferroic materials, which exhibit coexisting and coupled ferroelectric and mag-netic orders, hold significant promise for next-generation energy applications, including high-performance capacitors and cryogenic cooling technologies. Among these, hexagonal manga-nites represent prototypical systems, combining improper ferroelectricity at room temperature with antiferromagnetic order at low temperatures. Recent advances in characterization tech-niques now enable a deeper understanding of the functional behavior of such materials, partic-ularly in their polycrystalline form.

This talk focuses on the application of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and atom probe to-mography (APT) to uncover interface–property relationships in polycrystalline hexagonal man-ganites. Following an introduction to these techniques, I will discuss how intergranular inter-actions influence ferroelectric domain formation, how polarization affects electronic transport at grain boundaries, and what role local chemistry plays in enabling or limiting functional be-havior. These insights highlight the active role of interfaces in tuning multifunctionality and open new pathways for the design of advanced multiferroic devices.