Relaxor ferroelectric transition and energy storage enhancement in BaTiO3 ceramics through high-energy ball milling

This study demonstrates a simple and cost-effective route to induce relaxor ferroelectric behavior in BaTiO3
(BTO) ceramics. Sintered pellets prepared from unmilled and milled BTO powders were characterized using Xray
diffraction (XRD), dielectric spectroscopy, and P–E measurements. XRD confirmed the retention of the
tetragonal P4mm phase in all samples. Dielectric spectra showed a clear evolution from a sharp Curie peak (~120
◦C) in pellets obtained from unmilled powders to a broad diffuse transition (60 ◦C–180 ◦C) after milling; with the
diffuseness coefficients increasing from 0.52 to 1.30. Piezoresponse force microscopy corroborated the formation
of polar nanoregions in sintered pellets obtained from milled BTO. P–E loops exhibited the expected relaxor-type
slim hysteresis, with reduced Pᵣ (1.32 μC/cm2) and Ec (5.69 kV/cm). Milling also improved functional performance,
the recoverable energy density (Wrec) increased from 0.22 to 0.31 J/cm3, while the energy storage efficiency
(η) increased from 15 % to 85 %.