Inorganic dielectric materials for energy storage applications: a review

Abstract The intricacies in identifying the appropriate material system for energy storage applications have been the biggest struggle of the scientific community. Countless contributions by researchers worldwide have now helped us identify the possible snags and limitations associated with each material/method. This review intends to briefly discuss state of the art in energy storage applications of dielectric materials such as linear dielectrics, ferroelectrics, anti-ferroelectrics, and relaxor ferroelectrics. Based on the recent studies, we find that the eco-friendly lead-free dielectrics, which have been marked as inadequate to compete with lead-based systems, are excellent for energy applications. Moreover, some promising strategies to improve the functional properties of dielectric materials are discussed.