Atomically chemical heterogeneity endowing dielectric ceramics with ultrahigh energy storage
5 affiliations
- 1School of Power and Energy, Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Green General Aviation Power, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang 330063, China
- 2High Energy Photon Source, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- 3School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
- 4School of Materials Science and Engineering & Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Devices for Post-Moore Chips, Ministry of Education, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
- 5Department of Physics, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
Abstract
Harnessing local structural and chemical complexity in dielectric ceramics to reconcile large polarization, low hysteretic loss, and high breakdown strength is central to advancing dielectric capacitors for pulsed-power and high-voltage electronics. Here, we show that atomic-scale chemical heterogeneity, deliberately engineered in a relaxor ferroelectric perovskite matrix, provides an effective route to simultaneously elevate energy density and efficiency in bulk lead-free ceramics. Using canonical (Bi 0.5 Na 0.5 )TiO 3 -based relaxor ferroelectric as a host, we propose an atomically chemical heterogeneity design by manipulating coupled A/B-sublattice occupancy correlations while preserving the average pseudocubic perovskite framework. Systematic characterizations of local chemical structures reveal nonrandom cation configurations at the atomic scale, severe local lattice distortion, and ultrafine slush-like multipolar nanodomains (1 to 4 nanometers in size) in which tetragonal, rhombohedral, orthorhombic, and nonpolar cubic regions coexist. This nanoscale polar landscape sustains a large electric field–induced polarization while strongly suppressing remanence and hysteresis, enabling an ultrahigh breakdown strength of 74.2 kilovolts per millimeter. As a result, the optimized ceramic delivers a recoverable energy density of 17.4 joules per cubic centimeter with 88% efficiency, together with excellent stability across different operation conditions. In particular, the fatigue endurance remains up to 10 8 charge-discharge cycles under high electric fields. These results identify atomically chemical heterogeneity as a powerful and general design principle for high-reliability dielectric ceramics combining ultrahigh energy density with high efficiency.
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BibTeX
@article{xie2026atomically,
title = {{Atomically chemical heterogeneity endowing dielectric ceramics with ultrahigh energy storage}},
author = {Bing Xie and Qingqing Wu and Zhiqing Li and Zhen Wang and Zhiyong Liu and Kun Guo and Haibo Zhang and Huajie Luo and Tianyu Li},
journal = {Science Advances},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aef3315},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aef3315},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Atomically chemical heterogeneity endowing dielectric ceramics with ultrahigh energy storage
AU - Bing Xie
AU - Qingqing Wu
AU - Zhiqing Li
AU - Zhen Wang
AU - Zhiyong Liu
AU - Kun Guo
AU - Haibo Zhang
AU - Huajie Luo
AU - Tianyu Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/10
JO - Science Advances
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aef3315
UR - https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aef3315
AB - Harnessing local structural and chemical complexity in dielectric ceramics to reconcile large polarization, low hysteretic loss, and high breakdown strength is central to advancing dielectric capacitors for pulsed-power and high-voltage electronics. Here, we show that atomic-scale chemical heterogeneity, deliberately engineered in a relaxor ferroelectric perovskite matrix, provides an effective route to simultaneously elevate energy density and efficiency in bulk lead-free ceramics. Using canonical (Bi 0.5 Na 0.5 )TiO 3 -based relaxor ferroelectric as a host, we propose an atomically chemical heterogeneity design by manipulating coupled A/B-sublattice occupancy correlations while preserving the average pseudocubic perovskite framework. Systematic characterizations of local chemical structures reveal nonrandom cation configurations at the atomic scale, severe local lattice distortion, and ultrafine slush-like multipolar nanodomains (1 to 4 nanometers in size) in which tetragonal, rhombohedral, orthorhombic, and nonpolar cubic regions coexist. This nanoscale polar landscape sustains a large electric field–induced polarization while strongly suppressing remanence and hysteresis, enabling an ultrahigh breakdown strength of 74.2 kilovolts per millimeter. As a result, the optimized ceramic delivers a recoverable energy density of 17.4 joules per cubic centimeter with 88% efficiency, together with excellent stability across different operation conditions. In particular, the fatigue endurance remains up to 10 8 charge-discharge cycles under high electric fields. These results identify atomically chemical heterogeneity as a powerful and general design principle for high-reliability dielectric ceramics combining ultrahigh energy density with high efficiency.
SN - 2375-2548
ER -