Enhanced energy storage properties of Ba0.4Sr0.6TiO3 lead-free ceramics with Bi2O3-B2O3-SiO2 glass addition

In this study, we present an effective strategy to enhance the energy storage properties of Ba0.4Sr0.6TiO3 (BST) lead-free ceramics by the addition of Bi2O3-B2O3-SiO2 (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 Ba0.4Sr0.6TiO3-x wt%(Bi2O3-B2O3-SiO2) (BST- x wt%BBS, 0 ≤ x ≤ 12) ceramics possess large maximum polarization (Pmax), low remanent polarization (Pr) and slim polarization electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops. The breakdown strength (BDS), recoverable energy storage density (Wrec) 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 Wrec of 1.98 J/cm3 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.