Record Energy Storage Performance Metrics in Ferroelectric Hafnia‐Based Films through Heterostructure Design
ABSTRACT Capacitive energy storage is part of a promising energy harvesting and storage solution to power Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, overcoming the critical limitations of conventional supercapacitors and micro‐batteries. Moreover, achieving high recoverable energy storage density ( ESD ) and high efficiency ( η ) simultaneously is a key goal in energy storage, often requiring hybrid systems (e.g., combining batteries and supercapacitors) to balance the trade‐offs. Here, we demonstrate a ultra‐thin film capacitor with unprecedented high ESD that can be efficiently released at low operating voltage. This is achieved by using a novel heterostructure design combining ferroelectric La‐doped HfO 2 and a ferroelectric perovskite that is a relaxor induced by polar nanoregions, which enables a low hysteresis loss in the capacitor, thereby leading to an improved η . Additionally, the relaxor ferroelectric layer thickness was optimized to give an optimum voltage drop to allow high maximum polarization and low remnant polarization, the former to allow an ESD of over 50 J/cm 3 , and the latter to allow ŋ to be maximized at ∼95%. Therefore, our fluorite/perovskite heterostructure design and unique materials strategy have together provided a novel way to achieve unprecedented dielectric energy storage properties, proving a new route to electrostatic energy storage for autonomous IoT sensors.
Authors
- Florencio Sánchez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5314-453X)
- I. P. SILVA
- José P. B. Silva
- Nuno Estrócio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0940-1270)
- I. Fina
- Marian Cosmin Istrate
- Judith L. MacManus‐Driscoll
- Raluca Negrea
- Luís Marques
- Ampattu R. Jayakrishnan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2045-6593)
- Koppole C. Sekhar
Institutions
- Central University of Tamil Nadu (IN)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- National Institute of Materials Physics (RO)
- Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ES)
- Brunel University of London (GB)
- University of Minho (PT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Published
- 2026-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.75213
- Primary Topic
- Ferroelectric and Negative Capacitance Devices
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- European Cooperation in Science and Technology
- Generalitat de Catalunya