Recently, Professor Wang Dong's research team from the Frontier Institute of Science and Technology at Xi'an Jiaotong University has made a major leap forward in the realm of lead-free antiferroelectric energy storage materials. Their pertinent research findings, encapsulated in the paper titled "Defect Pair-Antipolar Region Percolation Enables Ultra-High Energy Storage Density and Efficiency in AgNbO₃ Ceramics," have been published in the internationally acclaimed journal Nature Communications.

Leveraging multi-scale theoretical calculations to steer experimental design, the team successfully crafted AgNbO₃-based ceramic materials. These materials boast an ultra-high energy storage density (12.8 J/cm³), impressive efficiency (90%), and outstanding thermal stability, maintaining consistent performance across a broad temperature spectrum ranging from -70℃ to 170℃.

The research team has put forward an innovative mechanism known as the "defect pair-antipolar region percolation interaction." By co-doping with Li and Ta, they engineered strongly coupled defect pairs, which in turn induced the formation of a "tilted antiferroelectric state." This breakthrough significantly curtailed hysteresis loss, bolstered breakdown field strength, and simultaneously preserved a high polarization amplitude. The result was a synergistic enhancement of both energy storage density and efficiency.

First-principles calculations and phase-field simulations have shed light on the atomic-scale mechanism. They revealed how the interplay between defect pairs and antipolar regions facilitates polarization rotation, giving rise to a composite structure interwoven with antiferroelectric and ferroelectric nanoregions. This effectively curbs long-range ordered phase transitions and diminishes hysteresis effects.

The Ag₀.₉₅Li₀.₀₅Nb₀.₃₅Ta₀.₆₅O₃ ceramic, designed based on this novel mechanism, attained a breakdown field strength of 760 kV/cm. Compared to the undoped system, its energy storage density and efficiency surged by approximately 64 times and 10 times, respectively. The material exhibits minimal performance fluctuations even under extreme temperature conditions, showcasing robust environmental adaptability. It is ideally suited for high-end applications that are sensitive to temperature variations, such as aerospace, electric vehicles, and pulsed power systems, offering fresh perspectives for the development of next-generation high-performance green capacitors.