Enhanced energy-storage performance in a flexible film capacitor with coexistence of ferroelectric and polymorphic antiferroelectric domains

Advances in flexible electronics are driving dielectric capacitors with high energy storage density toward flexibility and miniaturization. In the present work, an all-inorganic thin film dielectric capacitor with the coexistence of ferroelectric (FE) and antiferroelectric (AFE) phases based on Pb0.96La0.04(Zr0.95Ti0.05)O3 (PLZT) was prepared on a 2D fluorophlogopite mica substrate via a simple one-step process. The flexible capacitor exhibits a high recoverable energy density (Urec) of ≈ 44.2 J/cm3, a large electric breakdown strength (EBDS) of 3011 kV/cm, excellent frequency stability (500 Hz-20 kHz) and high thermal stability over 30–190 °C. It also demonstrates an outstanding bending endurance, which can maintain a high energy storage performance under various bending radii (R = 2–10 mm) or 103 repeated bends at 4 mm. The FE phase is stable near the film surface and the interface with the bottom electrode. The AFE phase with multi-domains has incommensurate modulation structures with super-periodicity of 6.5, 6.9 and 5.2. It indicates that the PLZT/LNO/F-Mica capacitor has high potential for energy storage application and may provide great opportunities for exploring new energy storage materials.