ACHIEVING SUPERIOR ENERGY STORAGE PERFORMANCE IN BARIUM TITANATE CERAMICS VIA A RARE EARTH CO-DOPING STRATEGY

This study describes the fabrication of polycrystalline ceramics Ba1-x(La1/3, Nd1/3)xTiO₃ by a solid-state reaction technique. The room temperature X-ray diffraction analysis using Rietveld refinement confirmed the formation of a polycrystalline compound with a tetragonal crystal structure consisting of a single phase. Doping BaTiO₃ with La3+ and Nd3+ ions enhanced the relative permittivity at room temperature. The co-doped samples possess a much higher dielectric constant in the wide frequency range, an essential characteristic for producing ceramic capacitors. The P-E hysteresis loop of the investigated samples was performed at room temperature. The results show that the remnant polarisation decreased from 9.05 to 1.95 μC/cm² while the breakdown strength increased from 50 kV/cm to 167 kV/cm when the co-opants rose from 0 to 8%. Accordingly, the energy storage density increased from 0.265 to 1.182 J/cm³, and the efficiency also increased from 30% to 77%. The BLNT8% sample is also very stable throughout a wide temperature range, making it a promising option for future energy storage applications.