Enhanced energy storage properties and temperature stability of fatigue-free La-modified PbZrO3 films under low electric fields

Abstract

Electrostatic energy-storage capacitors, with their ultrahigh storage density and high temperature stability, have been receiving increasing attention of late for their ability to meet the critical requirements of pulsed power devices in low-consumption systems. In such a context, this work reports on the successful production of anti-ferroelectric (AFE) thin films with excellent energy storage performance under a relatively low electric field. In particular, La-doped PbZrO3 thin films were fabricated using a sol-gel method, yielding a recoverable energy storage density of 34.87 J cm−3 with an efficiency of 59.23% at room temperature under the electric field of ∼800 kV cm−1. The temperature dependence of the energy storage property was demonstrated from room temperature to 210°C, indicating a stable density variation between 34.87 and 27.98 J cm−3. The films also exhibited excellent anti-fatigue property (endurance of up to 3×109 cycles and the recoverable energy storage density varied from 39.78 to 29.32 J cm−3 combined with an efficiency of 61.03%`-44.95% under the test frequencies from 10 to 5000 Hz). All results were obtained using compact films with a high polarization (Pmax) of approximately 103.7 µC cm−2 and low remnant polarization (Pr∼7 µC cm−2), which was owing to the combination of LaNiO3 buffer layers and vacancies at Pb sites. These results illustrate the great potential of pulsed power devices in low-consumption systems operating in a wide range of temperatures and long-term operations.