High recoverable energy storage density and large energy efficiency simultaneously achieved in BaTiO3–Bi(Zn1/2Zr1/2)O3 relaxor ferroelectrics

Abstract

Relaxor ferroelectrics have attracted much attention as electric energy storage materials for intermittent energy storage because of their high saturated polarization, near-zero remnant polarizations, and considerable dielectric breakdown strength (BDS). Despite the numerous efforts, the dielectric energy storage performance of relaxor ferroelectric ceramics is incomplete or unsatisfactory. The enhancement of recoverable energy storage density Wrec usually accompanies with the sacrifice of discharge-to-charge energy efficiency η; therefore, it is an important issue to achieve high recoverable Wrec and large efficiency η simultaneously. In this work, the (1-x)BaTiO3-xBi(Zn1/2Zr1/2)O3 (abbreviated as BT-100xBZZ, 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.20) ferroelectric ceramics were prepared using the conventional solid-state reaction method. The phase structure, microstructural morphology, dielectric and ferroelectric properties, relaxation behaviors, and energy storage properties of BT-BZZ ceramics were investigated in detail. X-ray powder diffraction, dielectric spectra, and ferroelectric properties confirm the transformation of tetragonal phase for normal ferroelectrics (BT) to pseudo-cubic phase for relaxor ferroelectrics (BT-8BZZ). A high recoverable energy storage density Wrec of 2.47 J/cm3 and a large energy efficiency η of 94.4% are simultaneously achieved in the composition of BT-12BZZ, which presents typical weakly coupled relaxor ferroelectric characteristics, with an activation energy Ea of 0.21 eV and a freezing temperature Tf of 139.7 K. Such excellent energy storage performance suggests that relaxor ferroelectric BT-12BZZ ceramics are promising dielectric energy storage materials for high-power pulsed capacitors.