Local Structural Perturbations Inducing High Energy Density in BiFeO₃-Based Ceramics

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Solid-State Chemistry
• Energy Storage

Background:

• Lead-free BiFeO3-based ceramics offer high Curie temperature and spontaneous polarization for energy storage.
• Intrinsic limitations like low breakdown strength and high hysteresis losses hinder their application.
• Developing high-performance dielectric materials is crucial for advanced energy storage solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance the energy storage performance of BiFeO3-based ceramics.
• To overcome limitations of low breakdown strength and substantial hysteresis losses.
• To explore the effect of local structural perturbations using (Bi2/9La2/9Sm2/9)ZrO3 (BLSZ) addition.

Main Methods:

• Introduction of (Bi2/9La2/9Sm2/9)ZrO3 (BLSZ) into BiFeO3-based ceramics.
• Investigating local structural perturbations and their impact on material properties.
• Characterizing energy storage performance, including energy density and breakdown strength.

Main Results:

• The addition of BLSZ effectively suppresses hysteresis loss and delays polarization saturation.
• Breakdown strength is enhanced due to disordered atomic arrangements and grain refinement.
• The optimized BiFeO3-based ceramic achieved a high energy density of 7.4 J cm-3.

Conclusions:

• Local structural perturbations via BLSZ addition significantly improve BiFeO3-based ceramic energy storage.
• This strategy offers a pathway to overcome intrinsic limitations of BiFeO3-based dielectrics.
• The findings provide design guidelines for developing high-performance dielectric materials for energy storage.