Large recoverable energy storage density and efficiency in PbZrO3-xSrTiO(3) thin films with polymorphic nanodomains

PbZrO3-xSrTiO(3) solid solution thin films were designed and fabricated by a metal organic decomposition method, and their structural, ferroelectric, and energy storage characteristics were investigated systematically. It is found that the incorporation of SrTiO3 not only gradually transforms PbZrO3 from antiferroelectrics to relaxor ferroelectrics but also obviously increases its breakdown strength. Large ferroelectric polarization and electric-field-dependent effective permittivity are obtained in the PbZrO3-0.4SrTiO(3) thin film due to the coexistence of rhombohedral (R), tetragonal (T), and orthorhombic (O) polymorphic nanodomains and polar clusters, which results in simultaneously improved recoverable energy storage density (W-rec similar to 73.7 J/cm(3)) and efficiency (eta similar to 72%). Moreover, excellent temperature stability (the variations of W-rec and eta are both less than 5% as temperature increases from 243 to 393 K) and distinguished fatigue endurance (the variations of W-rec and eta are both less than 1% after 10(8) cycles) are realized in a PbZrO3-0.4SrTiO(3) thin film. This study provides a feasible alternative method for designing energy storage materials based on antiferroelectrics.