High-performance BaTiO3(BTO)-based dielectric ceramics have great potential for high-power energy storage devices. However, its poor temperature reliability and stability due to its low Curie temperature impedes the development of most electronic applications. Herein, a series of BTO-based ceramics are designed and prepared on the basis of entropy engineering. Owing to the incorporation of Bi(Mg0.5Ti0.5)O3, relaxation behavior and low dielectric loss at high temperatures have been achieved. Moreover, the high-entropy strategy also promotes lattice distortion, grain refinement and excellent resistance, which together increase the breakdown field strength. These simultaneous effects result in outstanding energy storage performance, ultimately achieving stable energy density (Ue) of 5.76 J·cm−3 and efficiency (
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Defect engineering has been applied to prepare materials with modifiable dielectric properties. SrTiNbxO3 (x = 0, 0.003, 0.006, 0.009, 0.012) ceramics were synthesized using the traditional solid-state reaction method and sintered in a reducing atmosphere. All samples show excellent dielectric properties with giant permittivity (> 3.5×104) and low dielectric loss (< 0.01). SrTiNb0.003O3 ceramic exhibits a colossal permittivity of 4.6×104 and an ultralow dielectric loss of 0.005 (1 kHz, room temperature) as well as great temperature stability in the range of (−60)–160℃. The mechanism of the presented colossal permittivity (CP) properties is investigated by conducting X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and analyzing activation energies. The results indicate that the introduction of Nb5+ and the reducing sintering atmosphere together generated the formation of Ti3+ and

The ceramic composite separators coated with silica or alumina particles have been used in power batteries due to their better electrolyte wettability and better thermal stability compared with bare polymer separators. However, these oxide ceramics are Li+ ion insulators, which increase internal resistance and hinder the improvement of rate capability of batteries. Herein, we report a strategy to further improving the performance of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) by using fast ionic conductor ceramic composite separator as an alternative to traditional ceramic coated separators. Lithium lanthanum titanate (LLTO), a fast ionic conductor with excellent room temperature bulk conductivity, are coated on the common polyethylene (PE) separators. Our results demonstrate that such a novel LLTO-coated separator possess excellent electrolyte wettability and thermal stability; and the assembled NCM523/graphite lithium-ion pouch cells with LLTO-coated separator show better rate capability and cyclic performance with 88.7% capacity retention after 1000 cycles at room temperature compared with the pouch cells with Al2O3-coated separators. The fast ionic conductor ceramic composite separators will be a potential competitor to the next-generation novel separators for high-performance Li-ion power batteries.

High-performance dielectrics are widely used in high-power systems, electric vehicles, and aerospace, as key materials for capacitor devices. Such application scenarios under these extreme conditions require ultra-high stability and reliability of the dielectrics. Herein, a novel pyrochlore component with high-entropy design of Bi1.5Zn0.75Mg0.25Nb0.75Ta0.75O7 (BZMNT) bulk endows an excellent energy storage performance of Wrec ≈ 2.72 J/cm3 together with an ultra-high energy efficiency of 91% at a significant enhanced electric field Eb of 650 kV/cm. Meanwhile, the temperature coefficient (TCC) of BZMNT (~ -220 ppm/℃) is also found to be greatly improved compared with that of the pure Bi1.5ZnNb1.5O7 (BZN) (~ -300 ppm/℃), demonstrating its potential application in temperature-reliable conditions. The high-entropy design results in lattice distortion that contributes to the polarization, while the retardation effect results in a reduction of grain size to submicron scale which enhances the Eb. The high-entropy design provides a new strategy for improving the high energy storage performance of ceramic materials.

Oxide-based ceramics could be promising thermoelectric materials because of their thermal and chemical stability at high temperature. However, their mediocre electrical conductivity or high thermal conductivity is still a challenge for the use in commercial devices. Here, we report significantly suppressed thermal conductivity in SrTiO3-based thermoelectric ceramics via high-entropy strategy for the first time, and optimized electrical conductivity by defect engineering. In high-entropy (Ca0.2Sr0.2Ba0.2Pb0.2La0.2)TiO3 bulks, the minimum thermal conductivity can be 1.17 W/(m·K) at 923 K, which should be ascribed to the large lattice distortion and the huge mass fluctuation effect. The power factor can reach about 295 μW/(m·K2) by inducing oxygen vacancies. Finally, the ZT value of 0.2 can be realized at 873 K in this bulk sample. This approach proposed a new concept of high entropy into thermoelectric oxides, which could be generalized for designing high-performance thermoelectric oxides with low thermal conductivity.

Dental restorative materials with high mechanical properties and biocompatible performances are promising. In this work, polymer-infiltrated-ceramic-network materials (PICNs) were fabricated via infiltrating polymerizable monomers into porous ceramic networks and incorporated with hydroxyapatite nano-powders. Our results revealed that the flexural strength can be enhanced up to 157.32 MPa, and elastic modulus and Vickers hardness can be achieved up to 19.4 and 1.31 GPa, respectively, which are comparable with the commercial computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) blocks. Additionally, the adhesion and spreading of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs) on the surface of such materials can be improved by adding hydroxyapatite, which results in good biocompatibility. Such PICNs are potential applicants for their application in the dental restoration.

Low-dimensional nanostructures are a promising class of ideal high-performance candidates for energy storage and conversion owing to their unique structural, optical, and chemical properties. Low-dimensional nanostructured photocatalysts have attracted ever-growing research attention. In this review, we mainly emphasize on summarizing the 0-, 1-, and 2-dimensional nanostructured photocatalysts systematically, including their photocatalytic performance, synthesis methods, and theoretical analysis. From the viewpoint of dimension, we try to figure out the way to design more high-efficiency photocatalysts towards numerous applications in the field of solar energy conversion, hoping to promote efficient control and rational development of photocatalysts.