Broad-high operating temperature range and enhanced energy storage performances in lead-free ferroelectrics

The immense potential of lead-free dielectric capacitors in advanced electronic components and cutting-edge pulsed power systems has driven enormous investigations and evolutions heretofore. One of the significant challenges in lead-free dielectric ceramics for energy-storage applications is to optimize their comprehensive characteristics synergistically. Herein, guided by phase-field simulations along with rational composition-structure design, we conceive and fabricate lead-free Bi_0.5Na_0.5TiO₃-Bi_0.5K_0.5TiO₃-Sr(Sc_0.5Nb_0.5)O₃ ternary solid-solution ceramics to establish an equitable system considering energy-storage performance, working temperature performance, and structural evolution. A giant W_rec of 9.22 J cm^-3 and an ultra-high ƞ ~ 96.3% are realized in the BNKT-20SSN ceramic by the adopted repeated rolling processing method. The state-of-the-art temperature (W_rec ≈ 8.46 ± 0.35 J cm^-3, ƞ ≈ 96.4 ± 1.4%, 25-160 °C) and frequency stability performances at 500 kV cm^-1 are simultaneously achieved. This work demonstrates remarkable advances in the overall energy storage performance of lead-free bulk ceramics and inspires further attempts to achieve high-temperature energy storage properties.