A-Site Doping Effect on PLZT Relaxor Ferroelectric Glass-Free Medium-Temperature Sintering Ceramics

The high-temperature sintering characteristics of PLZT not only lead to lead volatilization and component mismatch but also limit its compatibility with low-cost electrode materials (such as Cu), making it a key bottleneck in its industrialization. In this study, PLZT dielectric ceramics were prepared using a glass-free densification process. Additionally, rare earth element Nd3+ was used for A-site doping to regulate the phase composition and domain structure of the material, and the relaxation characteristics and energy storage performance of PLZT were investigated. The results show that Nd3+ doping shifts the Raman 144 cm−1 peak redward by 2.7 cm−1. The P-E loop exhibits a narrow double-loop characteristic, with residual polarization reduced to 0.7 μC/cm2 and maximum polarization reaching 17.7 μC/cm2. When x = 0.07, a high energy storage density (Wrec = 3.98 J/cm3 and efficiency (η = 85%, x = 0.05) were achieved at 500 kV/cm. Through charge–discharge testing, the power density was determined to be 172.23 MW/cm3, with a discharge time τ0.9 = 9.17 ns. This work could facilitate its application in multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) and embedded energy storage devices.