The field of electronic ceramics includes components as diverse as Mn-Zn ferrites, lead zirconate titanate transducers, ZnO varistors, and Al2O3 or cordierite-based packages for integrated circuits. An overview of electroceramics is given in Figure 1, which depicts schematically the types of electronic and ionic phenomena of interest. Many of the materials pictured utilize some bulk property of the ceramic, such as the presence of ferroelectric of ferrimagnetic dipoles, electronic or ionic conductivity, or a phase transition to provide a useful function. In other materials, extraordinary responses can be engineered by suitably tailoring the thickness and properties of a grain boundary phase. Varistors, barrier layer capacitors, and PTC thermistors, for example, all rely on the preparation of semiconducting grains and insulating grain boundaries to create properties that cannot be found in single crystals. In a similar way, some of the porous ceramics utilized in humidity sensors rely on surface properties rather than on a bulk response to detect changes in the ambient humidity (Kulwicki, 1992). Finally, in materials for insulators or substrates, all of the otherwise interesting phenomena must be eliminated. With the exception of the last category, all of the phenomena depicted in Figure 1 can be utilized in ceramic sensors. While sensing and actuating materials are currently a fraction of the overall multibillion-dollar electroceramics market, the percentage is expected to grow as more and more devices are made “smart.”

As discussed in the introduction to this issue, smart materials are capable of sensing a change in the environment and responding in a useful way.