Energy storage performance of 0.55Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-0.45SrTiO3 ceramics doped with lanthanide elements (Ln = La, Nd, Dy, Sm) using a viscous polymer processing route

Lead-free bismuth sodium titanate-strontium titanate (NBT-ST) dielectric ceramic materials have been extensively investigated energy storage materials because of their relaxor characteristics. In this study, four different lanthanide elements were introduced into the ferroelectric NBT-ST ceramic to improve their relaxor properties. The introduction of the lanthanide resulted in an increase in disorder at location A within the perovskite lattice and improved relaxor characteristics, leading to a stored energy density of more than 3.5 J/cm3. In particular, an ultrahigh recoverable stored energy density of 4.94 J/cm3 and efficiency of 88.45% were achieved at 440 kV/cm when the NBT-ST ceramic was modified with neodymium. The modified ceramic also exhibited good thermal stability in the range of 30–120 °C, as well as a fast discharge time of ∼153 ns, indicating that Nd-incorporated NBT-ST is a promising candidate for electrical energy storage ceramic.