Ferroelectric hafnium and zirconium oxides have undergone rapid scientific development over the last decade, pushing them to the forefront of ultralow-power electronic systems. Maximizing the potential application in memory devices or supercapacitors of these materials requires a combined effort by the scientific community to address technical limitations, which still hinder their application. Besides their favorable intrinsic material properties, HfO2–ZrO2 materials face challenges regarding their endurance, retention, wake-up effect, and high switching voltages. In this Roadmap, we intend to combine the expertise of chemistry, physics, material, and device engineers from leading experts in the ferroelectrics research community to set the direction of travel for these binary ferroelectric oxides. Here, we present a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art and offer readers an informed perspective of where this field is heading, what challenges need to be addressed, and possible applications and prospects for further development.

Among currently available energy storage (ES) devices, dielectric capacitors are optimal systems owing to their having the highest power density, high operating voltages, and a long lifetime. Standard high-performance ferroelectric-based ES devices are formed of complex-composition perovskites and require precision, high-temperature thin-film fabrication. The discovery of ferroelectricity in doped HfO₂ in 2011 at the nanoscale was potentially game-changing for many modern technologies, such as field effect transistors, non-volatile memory, and ferroelectric tunnel junctions. This is because HfO₂ is a well-established material in the semiconductor industry, where it is used as a gate dielectric. On the other hand, (pseudo)binary HfO₂ and ZrO₂-based materials have received much less attention for ES capacitors, even though antiferroelectric HfO₂ and ZrO₂-based thin films show strong promise. This Focus Review summarizes the current status of conventional polymer and perovskite ferroic-based ES. It then discusses recent developments in, and proposes new directions for, antiferroelectric and ferroelectric group IV oxides, namely HfO₂ and ZrO₂-based thin films.

With the aim of increasing the efficiency of maintenance and fuel usage in airplanes, structural health monitoring (SHM) of critical composite structures is increasingly expected and required. The optimized usage of this concept is subject of intensive work in the framework of the EU COST Action CA18203 “Optimising Design for Inspection” (ODIN). In this context, a thorough review of a broad range of energy harvesting (EH) technologies to be potentially used as power sources for the acoustic emission and guided wave propagation sensors of the considered SHM systems, as well as for the respective data elaboration and wireless communication modules, is provided in this work. EH devices based on the usage of kinetic energy, thermal gradients, solar radiation, airflow, and other viable energy sources, proposed so far in the literature, are thus described with a critical review of the respective specific power levels, of their potential placement on airplanes, as well as the consequently necessary power management architectures. The guidelines provided for the selection of the most appropriate EH and power management technologies create the preconditions to develop a new class of autonomous sensor nodes for the in-process, non-destructive SHM of airplane components.