Novel AgNbO3-based lead-free ceramics featuring excellent pyroelectric properties for infrared detecting and energy-harvesting applications via antiferroelectric/ferroelectric phase-boundary design

Song Li; Hengchang Nie; Genshui Wang; Ningtao Liu; Mingxing Zhou; Fei Cao; Xianlin Dong

doi:10.1039/C9TC01014A

Novel AgNbO₃-based lead-free ceramics featuring excellent pyroelectric properties for infrared detecting and energy-harvesting applications via antiferroelectric/ferroelectric phase-boundary design†

Song Li,

^ab Hengchang Nie,

*^a Genshui Wang,^acd Ningtao Liu,

^ab Mingxing Zhou,

^ab Fei Cao^a and Xianlin Dong*^acd

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* Corresponding authors

^a Key Laboratory of Inorganic Functional Materials and Devices, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai 200050, People's Republic of China
E-mail: sestonenhc@mail.sic.ac.cn, xldong@mail.sic.ac.cn

^b University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China

^c State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai 200050, People's Republic of China

^d Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Abstract

AgNbO₃ is considered as one of the most promising alternatives for lead-containing antiferroelectric (AFE) ceramics, and has been drawing progressively more attention. The AFE/ferroelectric (FE) phase-boundary design based on AgNbO₃ is very attractive and is a promising means to develop lead-free high-performance pyroelectric materials. In the present study, compounds with a high tolerance factor and high average electronegativity difference and LiNbO₃-type composition were proposed as being able to stabilize the FE phase of AgNbO₃. Ceramics with the composition (1 − x)AgNbO₃–xLiTaO₃ (ANLT) (x = 0–0.10) were designed and fabricated using the conventional solid-state method for pyroelectric applications. The effects of the LiTaO₃ content, temperature, and electric field on the phase-transition behavior of the ANLT system were investigated systematically. Based on our results, a composition–temperature phase diagram of the ANLT system was proposed, confirming the existence of the AFE/FE phase boundary. The depolarization and pyroelectric properties of the ANLT system were also studied. It was found that the x = 0.05 composition at the AFE/FE phase boundary had a large room-temperature pyroelectric coefficient (3.68 10⁻⁸ C cm⁻² K⁻¹) and exhibited excellent figures of merit for infrared detectors due to its low relative permittivity (252 at 1 kHz). Moreover, an ultrahigh pyroelectric energy density (1.4 J cm⁻³) was harvested using an Olsen cycle for the x = 0.5 composition, which was several times larger than that of other ceramic systems reported recently. These results suggest the ANLT ceramic would be an attractive multifunctional material for applications in infrared detectors and energy harvesting.

This article is part of the themed collection: 2019 Journal of Materials Chemistry C HOT Papers

Journal of Materials Chemistry C

Novel AgNbO₃-based lead-free ceramics featuring excellent pyroelectric properties for infrared detecting and energy-harvesting applications via antiferroelectric/ferroelectric phase-boundary design†

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Novel AgNbO₃-based lead-free ceramics featuring excellent pyroelectric properties for infrared detecting and energy-harvesting applications via antiferroelectric/ferroelectric phase-boundary design

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Journal of Materials Chemistry C