Neodymium and samarium codoped PLZT ferroelectric ceramics for potential betavoltaic nuclear batteries

In this work, neodymium (Nd) and samarium (Sm) codoped lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (PLZT) ceramics were prepared by a high-temperature solid-state method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and ferroelectric analysis. Rare earth-doped PLZT ceramics show good phase formation. An appropriate rare earth element doping amount increases the densities of PLZT ceramics and reduces their resistivities, which is due to the role of rare earth elements in grain refinement. However, the increase in the amount of grain boundaries caused by grain refinement also affects domain inversion. Therefore, with increasing doping concentration, the remnant polarization of PLZT gradually decreases, and the doping of rare earth elements also slightly reduces the band gap of PLZT. Under irradiation with an X-ray simulated beta source with a particle energy of 10 keV (between the average energies of the beta particles of 3 H and 63 Ni), the ceramic sheets in this work produce current densities of up to 1.38 nA/cm 2 . This indicates that Nd and Sm codoped PLZT ceramics have a certain potential for application in betavoltaic batteries. • The potential for application of ferroelectric materials in beta radiation volt-effect cells was explored. • Nd and Sm codoping was used to adjust the properties of PLZT ceramics, significantly reducing the resistivity. • X-ray tubes were used for the first time to simulate beta radiation sources to test the radiation volt effect performance.