1 Overview of Results and their Significance Ceramic perovskite-like oxides with the general formula (A. A0. ...)(B. B0. ...)O3and titanium-based oxides are of great technological interest because of their large piezoelectric and dielectric response characteristics.[1] In doped and nanoengineered forms, titantium dioxide finds increasing application as an organic and hydrolytic photocatalyst. The binary main-group-metal nitride compounds have undergone recent advancements of in-situ heating technology in diamond anvil cells leading to a burst of experimental and theoretical interest. In our DOE proposal, we discussed our unique theoretical approach which applies ab initio electronic calculations in conjunction with systematic group-theoretical analysis of lattice distortions to study two representative phase transitions in ceramic materials: (1) displacive phase transitions in primarily titanium-based perovskite-like oxide ceramics, and (2) reconstructive phase transitions in main-group nitride ceramics. A sub area which we have explored in depth is doped titanium dioxide electrical/optical properties.
