Enhanced energy storage properties of Ba 0.4 Sr 0.6 TiO 3 lead-free ceramics with Bi 2 O 3 -B 2 O 3 -SiO 2 glass addition

Abstract In this study, we present an effective strategy to enhance the energy storage properties of Ba 0.4 Sr 0.6 TiO 3 (BST) lead-free ceramics by the addition of Bi 2 O 3 -B 2 O 3 -SiO 2 (BBS) glass, which were prepared by the conventional solid state sintering method. The phase structure, microstructure and energy storage properties were investigated in detail. It can be found that the Ba 0.4 Sr 0.6 TiO 3 -x wt%(Bi 2 O 3 -B 2 O 3 -SiO 2 ) (BST- x wt%BBS, 0 ≤ x ≤ 12) ceramics possess large maximum polarization ( P max ), low remanent polarization ( P r ) and slim polarization electric field ( P-E ) hysteresis loops. The breakdown strength (BDS), recoverable energy storage density ( W rec ) and energy storage efficiency ( η ) are enhanced obviously with the addition of BBS glass. The BST-9 wt%BBS ceramic is found to exhibit excellent energy storage properties with a W rec of 1.98 J/cm 3 and a η of 90.57% at 279 kV/cm. These results indicate that the BST-x wt%BBS ceramics might be good candidates for high energy storage applications.