Excellent energy storage performance of ZnO doped (Pb,La)(Zr,Sn,Ti)O₃ based antiferroelectric ceramics at an ultra-low sintering temperature of 940 °C

(Pb,La)(Zr,Sn,Ti)O₃-based antiferroelectric ceramics have excellent energy storage performance(more than 90% efficiency), which make them have great application advantages in the field of ceramic capacitors. However, the sintering temperature of (Pb,La)(Zr,Sn,Ti)O₃-based antiferroelectric ceramics is generally above 1250 °C, which limits application as a material for ceramic capacitors. Cu inner electrode has a low co-firing temperature and high conductivity and a low cost price, making it more competitive in the field of ceramic capacitor inner electrode. Therefore, the first step is to reduce the sintering temperature of (Pb,La)(Zr,Sn,Ti)O₃-based ceramics to below 1000 °C(co-firing temperature with Cu inner electrode), which is the key and difficult point. In this paper, Pb_0.94La_0.02Sr_0.04(Zr_0.45Sn_0.47Ti_0.08)_0.995O₃(PLSZST) antiferroelectric ceramics are doped with ZnO, which effectively reduce the sintering temperature. Among them, PLSZST-1 wt% ZnO is sintered at an ultra-low sintering temperature (T_Sintering = 940 °C), which is 330 °C lower than that of PLSZST(T_Sintering = 1270 °C) without doping ZnO. At the same time, PLSZST-1 wt%ZnO obtain a recoverable energy density of 4.26J cm^-3 and an energy efficiency of 95.5% at 230 kV cm^-1. The pulse discharge energy density (W_dis = 3.92 J cm^-3) and discharge time (t_0.9 = 351 ns) are obtained at 220 kV cm^-1, and the current density (C_D = 1338A cm^-2) and power density (P_D = 134MW cm^-3) are obtained at 200 kV cm^-1. The results provide a possible material basis for Cu internal electrode ceramic capacitors. (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH)