Large energy storage density in BiFeO3-BaTiO3-AgNbO3 lead-free relaxor ceramics

Abstract Lead-free (0.70-x)BiFeO3-0.30BaTiO3-xAgNbO3+5‰mol CuO (abbreviated as BF-BT-xAN) ceramics were fabricated using a modified thermal quenching technique. BF-BT-xAN ceramics are of a perovskite structure with morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) and show strong relaxor properties. Remarkably, the high recoverable energy storage density of 2.11 J/cm3 is obtained for BF-BT-xAN with x = 0.14. For the x = 0.14 ceramics, its energy storage efficiency is as high as 84 % at relative low field of 195 kV/cm, together with an outstanding thermal stability in a broad temperature range from 25 °C to 150 °C. In addition, this ceramic maintains superior energy storage performance even after 8 × 104 electrical cycles due to its high densification after doping Ag2O and Nb2O5. The result suggests that lead-free BF-BT-xAN ceramics may be promising candidate for dielectric energy storage application.