Local Atom Clusters Drive Supercritical Relaxor State in Lead‐Free Dielectrics for Giant Energy Storage

ABSTRACT Perovskite relaxor ferroelectrics have emerged as the leading capacitive energy‐storage materials in pulsed‐power electronics and integrated energy systems. However, conventional relaxor design strategies encounter a fundamental trade‐off, wherein increasing compositional complexity to suppress hysteresis typically weakens local polar strength, thereby hindering the simultaneous realization of ultrahigh recoverable energy density ( W rec ) and efficiency ( η ). Herein, we demonstrate that sublattice‐hierarchical local atom clustering provides an effective approach to overcoming this limitation. By combining strong A ‐site disorder with Mg/Hf‐rich nanoregions on B ‐site sublattices, we embed atomic clusters within a relaxor ferroelectric matrix to stabilize a supercritical relaxor state. Through neutron total scattering techniques and atomic‐resolution electron microscopy, we reveal that local atom clusters not only enhance lattice distortion to form ultrafine polar nanodomains but, more importantly, strengthen the local random field to enable strong and highly reversible polarization. As a result, the designed lead‐free ceramic achieves an ultrahigh W rec of 17.03 J cm −3 and an excellent η of 93.5%, resulting in a superior figure of merit up to 262. The fast‐discharging capability and robust stability against temperature, frequency, and cycling further evidence its strong application potential. These findings identify local atom clustering as a general and powerful approach for designing high‐performance dielectric ceramic capacitors.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Materials
Published
2026-08-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.74625
Primary Topic
Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Local Atom Clusters Drive Supercritical Relaxor State in Lead‐Free Dielectrics for Giant Energy Storage

Bing Xie, Hubo Zhu, Tianyu Li, Shujun J. Zhang et al.
Advanced Materials
Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials
article

Local Atom Clusters Drive Supercritical Relaxor State in Lead‐Free Dielectrics for Giant Energy Storage

Bing Xie, Hubo Zhu, Tianyu Li, Shujun J. Zhang, Huajie Luo, Qingqing Wu, Haibo Zhang, Zhen Wang, Kun Guo, Zhiyong Liu
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Perovskite relaxor ferroelectrics have emerged as the leading capacitive energy‐storage materials in pulsed‐power electronics and integrated energy systems. However, conventional relaxor design strategies encounter a fundamental trade‐off, wherein increasing compositional complexity to suppress hysteresis typically weakens local polar strength, thereby hindering the simultaneous realization of ultrahigh recoverable energy density ( W rec ) and efficiency ( η ). Herein, we demonstrate that sublattice‐hierarchical local atom clustering provides an effective approach to overcoming this limitation. By combining strong A ‐site disorder with Mg/Hf‐rich nanoregions on B ‐site sublattices, we embed atomic clusters within a relaxor ferroelectric matrix to stabilize a supercritical relaxor state. Through neutron total scattering techniques and atomic‐resolution electron microscopy, we reveal that local atom clusters not only enhance lattice distortion to form ultrafine polar nanodomains but, more importantly, strengthen the local random field to enable strong and highly reversible polarization. As a result, the designed lead‐free ceramic achieves an ultrahigh W rec of 17.03 J cm −3 and an excellent η of 93.5%, resulting in a superior figure of merit up to 262. The fast‐discharging capability and robust stability against temperature, frequency, and cycling further evidence its strong application potential. These findings identify local atom clustering as a general and powerful approach for designing high‐performance dielectric ceramic capacitors.

Advanced Materials
City University of Hong Kong (HK), Institute of High Energy Physics (AT), Institute of High Energy Physics (CN), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (CN), University of Science and Technology Beijing (CN), Nanchang Hangkong University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 21%
Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials
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