Giant enhancement and quick stabilization of capacitance in antiferroelectrics by phase transition engineering.

The antiferroelectric-ferroelectric phase transition is a basic principle that holds promise for antiferroelectric ceramics in high capacitance density nonlinear capacitors. So far, the property optimization based on antiferroelectric-ferroelectric transition is solely undertaken by chemical composition tailoring. Alternately, here we propose a phase transition engineering tactic by applying pulsed electric stimulus near the critical electric field, which finally results in ~54.

Ultrahigh Electrostrictive Effect in Lead-Free Sodium Bismuth Titanate-Based Relaxor Ferroelectric Thick Film.

In recent years, the development of environmentally friendly, lead-free ferroelectric films with prominent electrostrictive effects have been a key area of focus due to their potential applications in micro-actuators, sensors, and transducers for advanced microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). This work investigated the enhanced electrostrictive effect in lead-free sodium bismuth titanate-based relaxor ferroelectric films. The films, composed of (BiNa)BaSrTiO (BNBST, x = 0.

Room-temperature stabilizing strongly competing ferrielectric and antiferroelectric phases in PbZrO by strain-mediated phase separation.

PbZrO has been broadly considered as a prototypical antiferroelectric material for high-power energy storage. A recent theoretical study suggests that the ground state of PbZrO is threefold-modulated ferrielectric, which challenges the generally accepted antiferroelectric configuration. However, such a novel ferrielectric phase was predicted only to be accessible at low temperatures.

Synergistically Optimizing Pressure-Driven Energy Conversion and Energy-Harvesting Application via Modulating an Antiferroelectric-to-Ferroelectric Overlap Zone in Antiferroelectric Ceramics.

Dielectric ceramics with ultrahigh polarization and energy density are the core components used in next-generation pulse power generators based on explosive energy conversion. However, the low polarization of ferroelectric materials and high depolarized pressure hinder their development toward miniaturization, light weight, and integration, while antiferroelectric materials possessing larger nonlinear saturated polarization and rich phase structure are neglected in pulse power energy conversion. Here, an effective strategy of constructing antiferroelectric-to-ferroelectric overlap zone is achieved in binary system (1 - )(Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O-Ba(AlNb)O antiferroelectric ceramics to realize an excellent polarization of 41 μC/cm and a large depolarization efficiency of >99% under 150 MPa as well as a record high energy harvesting density of 2.

High Thermoelectric Power Factors in Plastic/Ductile Bulk SnSe -Based Crystals.

The recently discovered plastic/ductile inorganic thermoelectric (TE) materials open a new avenue for the fabrication of high-efficiently flexible TE devices, which can utilize the small temperature difference between human body and environment to generate electricity. However, the maximum power factor (PF) of current plastic/ductile TE materials is usually around or less than 10 µW cm K , much lower than the classic brittle TE materials. In this work, a record-high PF of 18.

Superior Energy Density Achieved in Unfilled Tungsten Bronze Ferroelectrics via Multiscale Regulation Strategy.

The most promising candidates for energy storage capacitor application are relaxor ferroelectrics, among which, the perovskite structure ferroelectric ceramics have witnessed great development progress. However, less attention has been paid on tetragonal tungsten bronze structure (TTBS) ceramics because of their lower breakdown strength and polarization. Herein, a multiscale regulation strategy is proposed to tune the energy storage performances (ESP) of TTBS ceramics from grain, domain, and macroscopic scale.

Ferroelectric Polarization Modulated Thermal Conductivity in Barium Titanate Ceramic.

Thermal conductivity dominates in a heat transfer medium, and a field modulated would facilitate delicate control in thermal management technology, yet it is hardly realized in a single solid material unless with changing temperature. Herein, in BaTiO ceramic, a modulated was discovered by adjusting ferroelectric polarization , which was a conventional strategy in ferroelectric functional materials. Four different states (P1, P2, P3, P4) were obtained by controlling poling time and field strength, showing that leaped from 2.

Plastic/Ductile Bulk 2D van der Waals Single-Crystalline SnSe for Flexible Thermoelectrics.

The recently discovered ductile/plastic inorganic semiconductors pave a new avenue toward flexible thermoelectrics. However, the power factors of current ductile/plastic inorganic semiconductors are usually low (below 5 µW cm  K ) as compared with classic brittle inorganic thermoelectric materials, which greatly limit the electrical output power for flexible thermoelectrics. Here, large plasticity and high power factor in bulk two-dimensional van der Waals (2D vdW) single-crystalline SnSe are reported.

Large magnetodielectric response of PST/LSMO/LCMO film over a wide temperature range.

PbSrTiO/LaSrMnO/LaCaMnO (PST/LSMO/LCMO) film is grown on Si substrate by chemical solution deposition method. The film crystallizes perfectly into perovskite phases with a random crystalline orientation. The LaSrMnO/LaCaMnO/Si layer exhibits low resistivity and obvious negative magnetoresistivity (MR); the PST/LSMO/LCMO film shows notable magnetocapacitance (MC) above 350 K, from 102.

Discovery of electric devil's staircase in perovskite antiferroelectric.

The devil's staircase, describing step-like function for two competing frequencies, is well known over a wide range of dynamic systems including Huyghens' clocks, Josephson junction, and chemical reaction. In condensed matter physics, the devil's staircase has been observed in spatially modulated structures, such as magnetic ordering. It draws widespread attentions because it plays a crucial role in the fascinating phenomena including phase-locking behaviors, commensurate-incommensurate phase transition, and spin-valve effect.

Atomic reconfiguration among tri-state transition at ferroelectric/antiferroelectric phase boundaries in Pb(Zr,Ti)O.

Phase boundary provides a fertile ground for exploring emergent phenomena and understanding order parameters couplings in condensed-matter physics. In Pb(ZrTi)O, there are two types of composition-dependent phase boundary with both technological and scientific importance, i.e.

Decoding the Double/Multiple Hysteresis Loops in Antiferroelectric Materials.

Antiferroelectric materials has become one of the most promising candidates for pulsed power capacitors. The polarization versus electric-field hysteresis loop is the key electrical property for evaluating their energy-storage performance. Here, we applied in situ biasing transmission electron microscopy to decode two representative energy-storage behaviors-namely, multiple and double hysteresis loops-in (Pb,La)(Zr,Sn,Ti)O system.

Enhancement of Energy-Storage Density in PZT/PZO-Based Multilayer Ferroelectric Thin Films.

PbZrTiO (PZT), PbZrO (PZO), and PZT/PZO ferroelectric/antiferroelectric multilayer films were prepared on a Pt/Ti/SiO/Si substrate using the sol-gel method. Microstructures and physical properties such as the polarization behaviors, leakage current, dielectric features, and energy-storage characteristics of the three films were systematically explored. All electric field-dependent phase transitions, from sharp to diffused, can be tuned by layer structure, indicated by the polarization, shift current, and dielectric properties.

Ferroelectric Ceramics for Pyroelectric Detection Applications: A Review.

Dynamic temperature sensing and infrared detection/imaging near room temperature are critical in many applications including invasive safety alarming, energy conversion, and public health, in which ferroelectric (FE) materials play an extremely important role due to their pyroelectricity. As a result, over the past few decades many efforts have been made to improve the understanding of pyroelectrics, explore new pyroelectric materials, and promote their practical applications. In this review, we consider the pyroelectric parameters and the two pyroelectric operation modes.

Lead-free (Ag,K)NbO materials for high-performance explosive energy conversion.

Explosive energy conversion materials with extremely rapid response times have broad and growing applications in energy, medical, defense, and mining areas. Research into the underlying mechanisms and the search for new candidate materials in this field are so limited that environment-unfriendly Pb(Zr,Ti)O still dominates after half a century. Here, we report the discovery of a previously undiscovered, lead-free (AgK)NbO material, which possesses a record-high energy storage density of 5.

The phase structure and dielectric properties around a new type of phase boundary in a lead ytterbium niobite based solid solution.

The phase boundaries of dielectric materials have constantly been valuable for instructing the design of phase structures, revealing correlations between compositions and structures, and attaining the desired functional properties for piezoelectric, pyroelectric, electrostriction, electrocaloric, energy storage and energy harvesting applications. We here observe a new type of phase boundary in a solid solution of xPbTiO3·(1 - x)Pb(Yb1/2Nb1/2)O3 (x = 0.00-0.

High electrostrictive properties and energy storage performances with excellent thermal stability in Nb-doped BiNaTiO-based ceramics.

As a promising candidate material replacing Pb(ZrTi)O (PZT), the lead-free BiNaTiO (BNT) system exhibits outstanding piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties. However, the weak thermal stability of these electric properties hampers its practical applications. In this work, we designed and prepared novel Nb-doped 0.