Recently, a research team helmed by Professor Hu Weijin from the National Research Center for Materials Science at the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shenyang, in partnership with other collaborators, has triumphantly developed a 'flash annealing' process. This innovative process boasts a heating and cooling rate that can soar up to 1,000 degrees Celsius per second. In a blink of an eye - just one second - they managed to fabricate wafer - level, high - performance lead zirconate relaxor antiferroelectric energy storage films on silicon wafers.

This remarkable feat was reported in the early hours of November 15th in the esteemed journal Science Advances. It paves a brand - new way for the production of next - generation high - performance energy storage capacitors. The 'flash annealing' process effectively 'freezes' high - temperature nanostructures to room temperature through ultra - rapid crystallization. As a result, it forms nanoscale domains with sizes less than 3 nanometers. This significantly boosts the energy storage efficiency.

Moreover, the dense and uniform structure of these films plays a crucial role. It firmly locks in lead elements, minimizes defects, and reduces leakage currents. Consequently, it achieves an impressive energy storage density of 63.5 joules per cubic centimeter.

Experimental results reveal that after undergoing extreme temperature cycling, ranging from minus 196 degrees Celsius to 400 degrees Celsius, the energy storage performance of the film capacitors deteriorates by less than 3%. This clearly demonstrates their outstanding environmental adaptability.

At present, the research team has successfully achieved uniform fabrication on 2 - inch silicon wafers. This achievement lays a solid foundation for the industrial application of chip - level integrated energy storage.