Ultrahigh-Energy Storage Properties of (PbCa)ZrO3 Antiferroelectric Thin Films via Constructing a Pyrochlore Nanocrystalline Structure

Yi Zhuo Li; Jun Liang Lin; Yu Bai; Yanxi Li; Zhi Dong Zhang; Zhan Jie Wang

doi:10.1021/acsnano.0c00791

Ultrahigh-Energy Storage Properties of (PbCa)ZrO₃ Antiferroelectric Thin Films via Constructing a Pyrochlore Nanocrystalline Structure

ACS Nano. 2020 Jun 23;14(6):6857-6865. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.0c00791. Epub 2020 May 21.

Authors

Yi Zhuo Li^{1

2}, Jun Liang Lin¹, Yu Bai³, Yanxi Li⁴, Zhi Dong Zhang^{1

2}, Zhan Jie Wang³

Affiliations

¹ Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Shenyang 110016, China.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenyang University of Technology, Shenyang 110870, China.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States.

PMID: 32421306
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c00791

Abstract

In recent years, antiferroelectric materials have been attracting considerable attention as energy storage capacitors due to their potential applications in pulsed power systems. In this work, antiferroelectric Pb_0.88Ca_0.12ZrO₃ (PCZ) thin films were prepared via chemical solution deposition and annealed using rapid thermal annealing. The microstructures of PCZ thin films were controlled via annealing temperature, and the effects of microstructures on electric properties and energy storage performance were systematically studied. Our results indicate that PCZ thin films annealed at 550 °C crystallized into a nanocrystalline structure of the pyrochlore phase, while also displaying the highest recoverable energy density and efficiency (91.3 J/cm³ and 85.3%). We attribute the ultrahigh energy storage properties mainly to dramatic improvements in the electric breakdown strength caused by the dense nanocrystalline structure. The findings reported herein help to elucidate the relationship between energy storage performance and thin-film microstructure, thereby providing an effective way for improving the energy storage performance of antiferroelectric thin films.

Keywords: Ca-doped PbZrO3; electric breakdown strength; microstructure; recoverable energy storage; thin films.