Excellent energy‐storage property and thermal stability of PLZT‐based antiferroelectric ceramics

Abstract (Pb, La)(Zr, Ti)O 3 antiferroelectric (AFE) materials are promising materials due to their energy‐storage density higher than 10 J cm −3 , but their low energy‐storage efficiency and poor temperature stability limit their application. In this paper, the (1 − x )(Pb 0.9175 La 0.055 )(Zr 0.975 Ti 0.025 )O 3 – x Pb(Yb 1/2 Nb 1/2 )O 3 (PLZTYN100 x ) AFE ceramics were prepared via two‐step sintering method and investigated thoroughly. With the doping of Yb 3+ and Nb 5+ , the phase structure transforms from the orthorhombic phase (AFE O ) to the coexistence of the orthorhombic‐and‐tetragonal phases. This structure reduces the free energy difference between the AFE and ferroelectric phases and reduces the fluctuation of energy with temperature, improving the energy storage efficiency and temperature stability. When the x = 0.05 (PLZTYN5), the AFE ceramic exhibits excellent temperature stability and ultrahigh energy storage performance, whose recoverable energy density ( W rec ) is 6.8–8.2 J cm −3 at 30 kV mm −1 in the temperature range from −55 to 75°C, and efficiency ( ƞ ) is 78%–86.7%. In addition, the change of W rec is less than 15%, exceeding the performance of most AFE ceramics. The results demonstrate that the PLZTYN5 ceramic has great potential in pulse power capacitors.