Core-shell structure and domain engineering in Bi_(0.5)Na_(0.5)TiO_(3)-based ceramics with enhanced dielectric and energy storage performance

Coreeshell structured Bi_(0.5)Na_(0.5)TiO_(3)eKTaO_(3)þx%(in mass)Li_(2)CO_(3)ceramics were fabricated in this study.Increasing x from 0 to 2 leads to the decrease of sintering temperature from 1175℃to 1020℃.The limited diffusion of Ta5þresults in chemical heterogeneities and coreeshell microstructures.The Ta5þ-depleted cores show the nanodomains(~10 nm),while the Ta^(5+)-rich shells display the polar nanoregions(1e2 nm).From x¼0 to 1,the appearance of cores with nanodomains contributes to the increase of dielectric constant and maximum polarization,while the further addition of Li2CO3 suppresses the dielectric and polarization responses due to the reduced grain sizes and polarization coupling.The enhanced dielectric relaxation and existence of core-shell microstructure with different polarization levels help to optimize the dielectric temperature stability.The x¼2 ceramics exhibit a stable high dielectric constant~1400 over a wide temperature range of 20e520℃.More encouragingly,the ultrafine grain size and coreeshell microstructure in the x¼2 ceramics greatly benefit the improvement of breakdown strength.Combined with the delayed polarization saturation and high ergodicity,a high recoverable energy density of~5.07 J/cm3 is obtained under 44 kV/mm,with a high efficiency of~85.17%.