Ba(Zr0.3Ti0.7)O3 doping to enhance the dielectric and energy discharging performances of a 0.65Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3–0.35Sr0.7Bi0.2TiO3 lead-free ceramic

A group of lead-free (1 − x)(0.65Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3–0.35Sr0.7Bi0.2TiO3)–x[Ba(Zr0.3Ti0.7) O3] [(1 − x)BNT–SBT–xBZT] ternary ceramics is prepared through the traditional solid-phase sintering reaction. The introduction of relaxor dielectric ceramic Ba (Zr0.3Ti0.7)O3 (BZT) can reduce the grain size, form a typical “ferroelectric + relaxor ferroelectric” lead-free system, and refine the hysteresis loops and improve η through site doping. As such, the dielectric anomaly peaks gradually shift to lower temperature and show a diffusion phase transition behavior over a wide temperature range, resulting in an active relaxation with the increase of doping BZT. Remarkably, the high energy density performance (Wrec and η are 1.00 J cm−3 and 87%, respectively) is obtained in this 0.86BNT-SBT-0.14BZT ceramic at relatively low electric field of 80 kV cm−1. This work is an appropriate reference to promote the energy storage performance of BNT-based ceramics by introducing BZT, providing an approach for lead-free dielectric materials.