Significantly improved energy storage properties and cycling stability in La-doped PbZrO3 antiferroelectric thin films by chemical pressure tailoring

In this work, Pb1−3x/2LaxZrO3 (x = 0–0.12) (PLZ-x) antiferroelectric thin films were fabricated on Pt(111)/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrates using chemical solution method. Smaller cations (La3+) and vacancies were introduced into A-sites of perovskite structure to construct chemical pressure. According to phenomenological theory, chemical pressure can increase the energy barrier between antiferroelectric (AFE) and ferroelectric (FE) phase, and enhance antiferroelectricity of the system. As a result, a large energy storage density (Wre) of 23.1 J cm−3 and high efficiency (η) of 73% were obtained in PLZ-0.10 films, while PLZ-0 films displayed lower Wre (15.1 J cm−3) and η (56%). More importantly, PLZ-0.10 films exhibited an excellent cycling stability with a variation of ˜2% after 1 × 108 cycles. The results demonstrate that heavily La-doped PbZrO3 films with high energy storage density, high efficiency and excellent cycling stability can be considered as potential candidates for energy storage applications.