One doping strategy to simultaneously lower the sintering temperature and increase the energy storage properties

• Proposing a novel method to greatly lower sintering temperature and increase the energy storage properties. • The recoverable energy density (11.28 J/cm 3 ) and the energy efficiency (85.54%) are obtained simultaneously. • The power density (332 MW/cm 3 ) and the current density (2144 A/cm 2 ) are acquired. Antiferroelectric (AFE) ceramics with low sintering temperature are of great importance to the application in the Multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC). However, conventional method of adding sintering aids will introduce the grain boundary glass phases with low dielectric constant, which is limited in the property enhancement. Thereby new way to simultaneously obtain low sintering temperature and superior performance improvement are urgently needed. Herein, a novel strategy of letting metal cation enter the lattice to avoid the above disadvantages was proposed and one specific attempt was carried out by adding Bi 2 O 3 as raw material instead of sintering aids to introduce Bi 3+ into the (Pb 0.98 Sr 0.02 )(Zr 0.6 Sn 0.4 )O 3 matrix. For all samples containing Bi 3+ , low sintering temperature of ∼ 1100 °C and outstanding performance improvement are simultaneously achieved. With small amount of Bi 3+ , the recoverable energy density is prominently enhanced from 7.78 J/cm 3 to 11.28 J/cm 3 accompanying with high energy efficiency of 85.54%. Meanwhile, outstanding practical discharge performance of ultrahigh current density of 2144 A/cm 2 and power density of 332 MW/cm 3 can be also achieved. Results testify that the introduction of Bi 3+ in lattice truly lowers the sintering temperature and thus densifies the microstructure, maintains high polarization characteristic and promotes the stability of the AFE phase. The proposed novel and effective strategy to further design the dielectric ceramics with low sintering temperature and superior energy storage performance is of great instructive significance for the further development of MLCC and other advanced ceramic capacitors.