Excellent Energy-Storage Properties Achieved in BaTiO3-Based Lead-Free Relaxor Ferroelectric Ceramics via Domain Engineering on the Nanoscale.
Barium titanate-based energy-storage dielectric ceramics have attracted great attention due to their environmental friendliness and outstanding ferroelectric properties. Here, we demonstrate that a recoverable energy density of 2.51 J cm-3 and a giant energy efficiency of 86.89% can be simultaneously achieved in 0.92BaTiO3-0.08K0.73Bi0.09NbO3 ceramics. In addition, excellent thermal stability (25-100 °C) and superior frequency stability (1-100 Hz) have been obtained under 180 kV cm-1. The first-order reversal curve method and transmission electron microscopy measurement show that the introduction of K0.73Bi0.09NbO3 makes ferroelectric domains to transform into highly dynamic polar nanoregions (PNRs), leading to the concurrently enhanced energy-storage properties by the transition from ferroelectric to relaxor ferroelectric (RFE). Furthermore, it is confirmed by piezoresponse force microscopy that the appearance of PNRs breaks the long-range order to some extent and reduces the stability of the microstructure, which explains the excellent energy-storage performance of RFE ceramics. Therefore, this work has promoted the practical application ability of BaTiO3-based energy-storage dielectric ceramics.