Enhanced Energy Density and Efficiency in Lead-Free Sodium Niobate-Based Relaxor Antiferroelectric Ceramics for Electrostatic Energy Storage Application

Antiferroelectric ceramics are recently, a research hotspot for electrostatic energy storage because of their large electric-field induced polarization. Lead-free sodium niobate (NaNbO3)-based ceramics are one of the emerging antiferroelectric counterparts. However, the unstable antiferroelectric phase seriously restricts the further improvement of energy density and efficiency. In this work, by introducing binary perovskite end-member BiFeO3-BaTiO3 with lower tolerance factor and average electronegativity into NaNbO3 ceramics, the stablized antiferroelectric phase with improved relaxation characteristic is identified by slim double-like polarization-electric field (P-E) loops and four-peak current-electric field (I-E) curves. Meanwhile, the antiferroelectric P to R phase transition is verified through Raman spectra, X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, and dielectric performance. In particular, the enhanced electric breakdown strength E-b is achieved by synergic contributions from ultralow dielectric loss, reduced grain size, and so on. Consequently, the sample with optimized composition displays ultrahigh recoverable energy storage density (W-rec) of 14.5 J cm(-3) and satisfied efficiency (eta) of 83.9%, which shows the superiority in the state-of-the-art dielectric ceramics. These results provide a feasible route by regulating the relationship between antiferroelectric structure and properties to explore high-performance dielectrics for electrostatic energy storage applications.