Enhanced energy-storage density in silver niobate ceramics by Yb3+doping at A-site

High energy density is an important factor for antiferroelectric materials applied in power pulse devices. Herein, the Ag(1-3x)YbxNbO3 (AYNO-100x) ceramics with x = 0, 0.02 and 0.04 were synthesized via a solid-state reaction method in an oxygen atmosphere. The Yb3+ doping at A-site reduces the oxygen vacancy and increases the silver vacancy after reaching saturation, which improves the antiferroelectric stability, leading to enhanced recover-able energy-storage density of 2.7 J/cm3 under 255 kV/cm at room temperature. Meanwhile, a relatively high discharge energy density of 1.0 J/cm3 at 200 kV/cm is also observed in the Ag0.94Yb0.02NbO3 ceramic. These results indicate that AgNbO3-based ceramics are potential candidates in advanced power electronic devices.