Nina Balke

Bio

Dr. Balke is an Associate Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department and the Director of the Analytical Instrumentation Facility. She received her MS and PhD in Materials Sciences from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany.

Dr. Balke’s research focuses on utilizing state-of-the-art atomic force microscopy to understand and discover new nanoscale materials functionality driven by electric fields and potentials for information and energy technology. This encompasses electromechanical, mechanical, and transport phenomena in inorganic materials and across fluid-solid interfaces.

Publications

• Competing polar phases in 2D ferroelectric transition metal thio- and selenophosphates , Applied Physics Letters (2025)
• Nanoscale Polarization-Dependent Young's Modulus of Ferroelectric BaTiO₃ Single Crystals , ACS NANO (2025)
• (Invited) Probing Local Ion Insertion through Operando AFM , ECS Meeting Abstracts (2024)
• Aluminum/SmCo₅ composites for structural and magnetic applications , JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE (2024)
• Current understanding of electrochemical strain microscopy to visualize ion behavior on the nanoscale , CURRENT OPINION IN ELECTROCHEMISTRY (2024)
• Effect of sub‐coercive degradation on the local piezoelectric properties in lead zirconate titanate ceramics , Journal of the American Ceramic Society (2024)
• Role of Lattice Flexibility on Electrochemical Ion Insertion: Structural Dynamics in WO3 vs WO2.9 , ECS Meeting Abstracts (2024)
• Effect of Electrode/Electrolyte Coupling on Birnessite (delta-MnO2) Mechanical Response and Degradation , ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES (2023)
• Effects of thin metal contacts on few-layer van der Waals ferrielectric CuInP2S6 , JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS (2022)
• Ionic Control over Ferroelectricity in 2D Layered van der Waals Capacitors , ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES (2022)