Effects of NiNb₂O₆ doping on dielectric property, microstructure and energy storage behavior of Sr_0.97La_0.02TiO₃ ceramics

Sr_0.97La_0.02TiO₃ ceramics with samll amounts of NiNb₂O₆ additives were prepared by the traditional solid state sintering method, and the phase purity, microstructure, dielectric properties and energy storage behavior of the NiNb₂O₆-added Sr_0.97La_0.02TiO₃ ceramics were investigated. The results show that the grain size of the ceramics firstly decreases and then increases with increasing NiNb₂O₆ concentration. The average grain size reaches 0.55 um for the sample with 4.5 wt% NiNb₂O₆. Moreover, impedance spectroscopy (IS) analysis was employed to study the electrical conductive behavior of NiNb₂O₆-doped Sr_0.97La_0.02TiO₃ ceramics. IS results reveale that the NiNb₂O₆-doped Sr_0.97La_0.02TiO₃ ceramic has large R _gb /(R _gb  + R _g ) ratios due to the decreased grain sizes. The breakdown strength is notably improved, and the highest breakdown strength of 324 kV/cm can be achieved for the sample with 4.5 wt% NiNb₂O₆ additive. The Sr_0.97La_0.02TiO₃ sample with 4.5 wt% NiNb₂O₆ possesses the maximum theoretical energy density of 1.36 J/cm³, which is about 2 times higher than that of pure SrTiO₃ in the literature. And its energy storage efficiency reaches 91.4 % under applied electric field of 80 kV/cm. This study provides the NiNb₂O₆ added ceramic as an attractive candidate for making high-energy density capacitors.