Broad-high operating temperature range and enhanced energy storage performances in lead-free ferroelectrics

Abstract The immense potential of lead-free dielectric capacitors in advanced electronic components and cutting-edge pulsed power systems has driven enormous investigations and evolutions heretofore. One of the significant challenges in lead-free dielectric ceramics for energy-storage applications is to optimize their comprehensive characteristics synergistically. Herein, guided by phase-field simulations along with rational composition-structure design, we conceive and fabricate lead-free Bi 0.5 Na 0.5 TiO 3 -Bi 0.5 K 0.5 TiO 3 -Sr(Sc 0.5 Nb 0.5 )O 3 ternary solid-solution ceramics to establish an equitable system considering energy-storage performance, working temperature performance, and structural evolution. A giant W rec of 9.22 J cm −3 and an ultra-high ƞ ~ 96.3% are realized in the BNKT-20SSN ceramic by the adopted repeated rolling processing method. The state-of-the-art temperature ( W rec ≈ 8.46 ± 0.35 J cm −3 , ƞ ≈ 96.4 ± 1.4%, 25–160 °C) and frequency stability performances at 500 kV cm −1 are simultaneously achieved. This work demonstrates remarkable advances in the overall energy storage performance of lead-free bulk ceramics and inspires further attempts to achieve high-temperature energy storage properties.