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Dielectric ceramic capacitors with ultrahigh power densities are fundamental to modern electrical devices. Nonetheless, the poor energy density confined to the low breakdown strength is a long-standing bottleneck in developing desirable dielectric materials for practical applications. In this instance, we present a high-entropy tungsten bronze-type relaxor ferroelectric achieved through an equimolar-ratio element design, which realizes a giant recoverable energy density of 11.0 J·cm−3 and a high efficiency of 81.9%. Moreover, the atomic-scale microstructural study confirms that the excellent comprehensive energy storage performance is attributed to the increased atomic-scale compositional heterogeneity from high configuration entropy, which modulates the relaxor features as well as induces lattice distortion, resulting in reduced polarization hysteresis and enhanced breakdown endurance. This study provides evidence that developing high-entropy relaxor ferroelectric material via equimolar-ratio element design is an effective strategy for achieving ultrahigh energy storage characteristics. Our results also uncover the immense potential of tetragonal tungsten bronze-type materials for advanced energy storage applications. The authors present an equimolar-ratio element high-entropy strategy for designing high-performance dielectric ceramics and uncover the immense potential of tetragonal tungsten bronze-type materials for advanced energy storage applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PbZrO3 has been broadly considered as a prototypical antiferroelectric material for high-power energy storage. A recent theoretical study suggests that the ground state of PbZrO3 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. Here, we successfully achieve the room-temperature construction of the strongly competing ferrielectric and antiferroelectric state by strain-mediated phase separation in PbZrO3/SrTiO3 thin film. We demonstrate that the phase separation occurs spontaneously in quasi-periodic stripe-like patterns under a compressive misfit strain and can be tailored by varying the film thickness. The ferrielectric phase strikingly exhibitsa threefold modulation period with a nearly up-up-down configuration, which could be stabilized and manipulated by the formation and evolution of interfacial defects under applied strain. The present results construct a fertile ground for further exploring the physical properties and applications based on the novel ferrielectric phase. There is a desire to know how the threefold ferrielectric coexists with the antiferroelectric phase. Here, the authors realize a threefold-modulated ferrielectric phase regulated by strain-mediated phase separation in PbZrO3 thin film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, calcium modified strontium barium niobate (CaxSr0.75−xBa0.25Nb2O6, CSBN-x, 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.20) lead-free ferroelectric relaxor ceramics were prepared by conventional solid-state reaction technique and their crystal structure, morphology, dielectric, ferroelectric and energy storage properties were studied comprehensively. The modified CSBN ceramics present pure tetragonal tungsten bronze structure (TTBS) in the whole studied composition range. The introduction of calcium elevates the ferroelectric to paraelectric transition temperature remarkably while has little influence on the relaxor behavior of strontium barium niobate system. Although the maximum polarization (Pmax) and remnant polarization (Pr) of CSBN-x increase with x, the difference of the two values (Pmax−Pr) is also heightened, thus improving its energy storage performance. The optimal energy storage properties, i.e. high recoverable energy storage density Wrec (1.21 J/cm3) and energy storage efficiency η (87.7%), ultrahigh temperature stability (the fluctuations on Wrec and η are within 2% and 3% over the range of 25 °C–120 °C, respectively) are achieved in Ca0.05Sr0.70Ba0.25Nb2O6 composition. These excellent performance properties qualify this environment-friendly SBN-based ferroelectric relaxor ceramics as a promising alternative in energy storage application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This correction notice is for an article titled "High-entropy relaxor ferroelectric ceramics for ultrahigh energy storage" published in Nature Communications. The notice addresses two errors in the original article. The first error is in the first paragraph of page 4, where 'Tm,1MHz-Tm,10Hz' was incorrectly written. The correct version should state 'Tm,1MHz-Tm,10Hz'. The second error is in the first paragraph of page 7, where '(S1, S1)' was incorrectly written. The correct version should state '(Fig. S15)'. The correction has been made in both the PDF and HTML versions of the article. The authors of the article are Haonan Peng, Tiantian Wu, Zhen Liu, Zhengqian Fu, Dong Wang, Yanshuang Hao, Fangfang Xu, Genshui Wang, and Junhao Chu. [Extracted from the article]

Phase boundary provides a fertile ground for exploring emergent phenomena and understanding order parameters couplings in condensed-matter physics. In Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3, there are two types of composition-dependent phase boundary with both technological and scientific importance, i.e. morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) separating polar regimes into different symmetry and ferroelectric/antiferroelectric (FE/AFE) phase boundary dividing polar and antipolar dipole configurations. In contrast with extensive studies on MPB, FE/AFE phase boundary is far less explored. Here, we apply atomic-scale imaging and Rietveld refinement to directly demonstrate the intermediate phase at FE/AFE phase boundary exhibits a rare multipolar Pb-cations ordering, i.e. coexistence of antipolar or polar displacement, which manifests itself in both periodically gradient lattice spacing and anomalous initial hysteresis loop. In-situ electron/neutron diffraction reveals that the same parent intermediate phase can transform into either FE or AFE state depending on suppression of antipolar or polar displacement, coupling with the evolution of long-/short-range oxygen octahedra tilts. First-principle calculations further show that the transition between AFE and FE phase can occur in a low-energy pathway via the intermediate phase. These findings enrich the structural understanding of FE/AFE phase boundary in perovskite oxides. Ferroelectric/antiferroelectric phase boundary is both technologically and scientifically important. Here, the authors reveal the structure of intermediate phase involved in classical Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benefitting from the reversible phase transition between antiferroelectric and ferroelectric states, antiferroelectric materials have recently received widespread attentions for energy storage applications. Antiferroelectric configuration with specific antiparallel dipoles has been used to establish antiferroelectric theories and understand its characteristic behaviors. Here, we report that the so-called antiferroelectric (Pb,La)(Zr,Sn,Ti)O3 system is actually ferrielectric in nature. We demonstrate different ferrielectric configurations, which consists of ferroelectric ordering segments with either magnitude or angle modulation of dipoles. The ferrielectric configurations are mainly contributed from the coupling between A-cations and O-anions, and their displacement behavior is dependent largely on the chemical doping. Of particular significance is that the width and net polarization of ferroelectric ordering segments can be tailored by composition, which is linearly related to the key electrical characteristics, including switching field, remanent polarization and dielectric constant. These findings provide opportunities for comprehending structure-property correlation, developing antiferroelectric/ferrielectric theories and designing novel ferroic materials. The large family PbZrO3-based solid solutions are usually considered as antiferroelectric materials with specific antiparallel polarization configuration. Here, the authors demonstrate the PbZrO3-based material has ferrielectric dipoles ordering and configure a clear structure-property relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epitaxial LaCaSrMnO (LCSMO) thin films were successfully prepared on LaAlO (LAO) substrates by ordinary aqueous sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction result shows that the films have perfect crystalline orientation. The HRTEM results confirm that the films have epitaxial structure and the interface is very sharp and no misfit dislocations. The selected area electron diffraction patterns and fast Fourier transformation patterns mean that there exist three domains in the thin film. The single-particle spin-flip excitations are dominant for the metallic ferromagnets in low-temperature range. In paramagnetic range, the temperature dependence of resistivity can be well analyzed using a small polaron theory. The magnetoresistance value for the films reaches maximum about 65 % with 7 T magnetic field at 285 K which is promising for highly demanding applications. The conventional sol-gel method produces the lanthanum manganese oxide thin films with excellent epitaxial structure and large magnetoresistance at room temperature which can be used for either fundamental studies or real applications. Graphical Abstract: The conventional sol-gel method produces the lanthanum manganese oxide thin films with excellent epitaxial structure and giant magnetoresistance at room temperature which can be used for either fundamental studies or real applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pb(ZrTi)NbO (PZTN 95/5) ferroelectric ceramics were fabricated using low-temperature sintering process with the addition of CuO as sintering aid. The influence of CuO on the microstructure, breakdown strength and energy density of PZTN 95/5 ceramics were investigated. The results of the relative density and the grain size distribution show that, compared with pure PZTN 95/5 ceramics, 0.2 wt% CuO-added PZTN 95/5 ceramics show a higher density and smaller and more uniform grains. More importantly, an improved dielectric breakdown strength by 15.5 % is achieved in 0.2 wt% CuO-added samples, due to the increase of the density and the decrease of the grain size. Then, an enhanced energy density is also obtained. It is suggested that the preparation of PZTN 95/5 ferroelectric ceramics with high density and fine grains by the addition of CuO provides a promising method to improve the reliability and power output density of pulse power supplies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LaSrMnO (x = 0.33) (LSMO) thin films have been fabricated successfully by sol-gel method on two different types of substrates, Si (111) and SrTiO (STO) (001). Microstructure and magnetic properties of LSMO thin films have been investigated. The X-ray diffraction studies of the films confirm the pure phase of the LSMO thin films. In contrast with LSMO thin films on Si substrate, the performances of LSMO on STO substrate are superior both from structural and magnetic properties. For the samples deposited on STO substrate, highly preferred orientation as well as less strain and grain defects was found; in other aspect, the magnetization, the residual and saturation moment value, tended greater while a decreased coercive field required merely (saturation moment value was about five times and coercive field was only about 13 % of those on Si substrate). The Curie temperature of LSMO thin films on Si and STO substrates is estimated to be about 349.7 and 359 K, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates ferroelectricity in Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of nitrogencrown and arachidic acid by electric polarization measurements and surface pressure-molecular area isotherm. Hysteresis loops; Existence of remnant polarizations in the LB films; Enhancement of ferroelectricity.

In this report, the properties of triglycine sulfate (TGS) crystals doped with urea and L-α-alanine were studied. Urea and L-α-alanine have successfully entered into TGS crystal, demonstrated by infrared transmission spectrum and pyroelectric study. Figures of merit and Curie temperature are increased due to these two additions. UrLATGS is more suitable for infrared detectors than pure TGS crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]