Enhancing the dielectric, electrocaloric and energy storage properties of lead-free Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 ceramics prepared via sol-gel process

H. Mezzourh , S. Belkhadir , D. Mezzane (1) , M. Amjoud (1) , E. Choukri (1) , A. Lahmar (2) , Y. Gagou (2) , Z. Kutnjak (3) , M. El Marssi (2)

1 LMCN - Laboratoire de Matière Condensée et Nanostructures
2 LPMC - Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée - UR UPJV 2081
3 IJS - Jozef Stefan Institute [Ljubljana]

The Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 (BCZT) ceramics were successfully prepared by the sol-gel process and sintered at 1420 degrees C. The effect of sintering times (2, 4 and 6 h) on structural, microstructural, electric properties, energy storage, and electrocaloric effect was systematically examined. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results show that all the samples crystallize in the pure perovskite structure. The morphotropic phase transition from the tetragonal to the orthorhombic phase (T-O) was identified and confirmed by Rietveld refinement. The BCZT ceramic sintered at 1420 degrees C for 4 h possesses a good relative density of 98% and exhibits optimal properties with a high dielectric permittivity (epsilon(r,max)) similar to 16310, a large electrocaloric effect coefficient (xi) similar to 0.244Kmm/kV and a high energy storage efficiency of 63.65%

Domaines: Physique [physics]; Matière Condensée [cond-mat]

H. Mezzourh, S. Belkhadir, D. Mezzane, M. Amjoud, E. Choukri, et al.. Enhancing the dielectric, electrocaloric and energy storage properties of lead-free Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 ceramics prepared via sol-gel process. Physica B: Condensed Matter, 2021, 603, ⟨10.1016/j.physb.2020.412760⟩. ⟨hal-03627372⟩