PLZT x/90/10 ceramics for energy storage

The importance of antiferroelectric materials is related to antiferroeletric to ferroelectric field induced transition which provide the physical foundation for a large broad range of applications especially for energy storage capacitors. Lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (Pb1-xLax)(Zr0.90Ti0.10)1-x/4O3 (denoted as PLZT x/90/10) ceramics have recently received increasing interest due to its compositional dependent phase boundary region between rhombohedral and orthorhombic phase. These ceramics show tailored antiferroelectricity whereas the stability of antiferroelectric phase, reversibility and irreversibility of AFE to FE induced transition and electric field necessary to induce the transition from AFE to FE may be tuned by La modification. PLZT AFEs have a high Curie temperature (~170 oC) which means that the antiferroelectric phase may exist in a wide range of temperature. Therefore these ceramics could be potential candidates for high energy-storage capacitors. In this study, we have focused on how the individual phases (ferroelectric or antiferroelectric) as well as their phases coexistence influence the energy storage properties. Particularly, we have evidenced that there is a linear relationship between the amount of ferroelectric phase presented in the ceramics and the EAF critical field necessary to induce the transition between antiferroelectric and ferroelectric phase. Furthermore we demonstrated that, while the PLZT system evolves from a FE state to an AFE state as a function of La content and from an AFE state to a FE state depending on the applied electric field, the recoverable energy (Wre) and loss energy (Wloss) range between two limits whose lower and higher values are obtained for PLZT composition in AFE state and FE state, respectively. The energy storage value (Wre) range from 0.819 J/cm3 (for PLZT 2/90/10 and electric field of ~30 kV/cm ) to the highest value of 1.85 J/cm3 (for PLZT 3.5/90/10 and electric field ~65 kV/cm ).