Bismuth ferrite-modified lead-free ceramics with reduced sintering temperature and improved energy storage properties

Dielectric ceramics with high polarization and low sintering temperature are important for high-performance and low-cost multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). Herein, BiFeO3 was added to a lead-free composition 0.48BaTiO3-0.4Bi(Mg0.5Hf0.5)O3-0.12SrTiO3 to lower the sintering temperature and increase the polarization simultaneously. As a result, a low sintering temperature of 950 °C and high comprehensive energy storage properties with a recoverable energy density Wrec of 5.7 J/cm3 and an energy efficiency η of 92% at 450 kV/cm were achieved. Together with the good temperature stability and cycling stability of Wrec and η, the ceramics exhibit great potential in the energy storage MLCCs with low-cost Ag-Pd electrodes with a high Ag content.