Outstanding Energy Storage Performance in High-Hardness (Bi0.5K0.5)TiO3-Based Lead-Free Relaxors via Multi-Scale Synergistic Design

Lead-free dielectric ceramics with ultrahigh energy storage performance are the best potential stocks used in next-generation advanced pulse power capacitors. Here, an ultrahigh recoverable energy storage density W-rec of approximate to 7.57 J cm(-3) and a large efficiency eta of approximate to 81.4% are first realized in (Bi0.5K0.5)TiO3 (BKT)-based relaxor ferroelectric ceramics with an ultrahigh Vickers hardness H-v approximate to 8.63 Gpa by adding BaTiO3 and NaNbO3 in order to synergistically design the domain and microstructure in multiscale, leading to the existence of ultrasmall polar nanoregions, ultrafine grain size, compact grain boundaries, dense microstructure, and large band gap E-g simultaneously. Encouragingly, an excellent energy storage temperature stability (W-rec approximate to 4.31 +/- 0.25 J cm(-3), eta approximate to 86 +/- 5%, 20-200 degrees C), frequency stability (W-rec approximate to 5.14 +/- 0.12 J cm(-3), eta approximate to 81.3 +/- 1.2%, 5-100 Hz), and excellent charge/discharge performance (power density P-D approximate to 103.2 MW cm(-3), discharge energy density W-D approximate to 2.4 J cm(-3), discharge rate t(0.9) approximate to 130 ns) are also achieved in BKT-based ceramics. The results demonstrate that BKT-based ceramics can be very competitive lead-free relaxors for energy storage capacitors in pulsed power devices.

Automated summary

Lead-free dielectric ceramics with ultrahigh energy storage performance have been successfully demonstrated in BKT-based ceramics by synergistically designing the domain and microstructure at multiscale levels. These ceramics exhibit excellent energy storage temperature and frequency stability, along with impressive charge/discharge performance, making them competitive candidates for energy storage capacitors in pulsed power devices.