Abstract
Dielectric capacitors are critical for advanced energy storage due to their ultrahigh power density and rapid charge-discharge rates. However, their application is limited by the low energy density. Here, we design a BaTiO3-(K0.5Na0.5)NbO3-(Bi0.5Na0.5)Ti0.9Zr0.1O3 solid-solution system through synergistic polymorphic nanodomain engineering and defect optimization. By engineering polymorphic nanodomains with coexisting rhombohedral, orthorhombic, tetragonal, cubic nanodomain in 1.0–2.0 nm size and defect design with reduces oxygen vacancy concentration and forms defect complexes, we achieve an ultrahigh energy density of 18.7 J cm⁻3 with remarkable efficiency of 92.1% in multilayer ceramic capacitors, along with excellent cycling stability (>107 cycles) and thermal stability (<±5% from 25 to 150 °C). In this work, we provide a paradigm for designing high-performance dielectric capacitors through the synergistic manipulation of domain structures and defect engineering.
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The data supporting the findings of this study are available in the paper and its Supplementary Information. The source data used in this study have been deposited in the Figshare database.
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Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the Basic Science Center Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (grant number 52388201); the National Key Research Program of China (grant numbers 2021YFB3800601); the NSFC (grant numbers 12574100, 52502143); Taishan Scholar Foundation of Shandong Province (tsqn202507050); Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2025QC473); Basic Research Program of Jiangsu (BK20250430); Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2024A1515110042); Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (Grant No. JCYJ20250604175816022), State Key Laboratory of New Ceramic Materials Tsinghua University (Nos. KF202408, KF202502); Young Talent of Lifting engineering for Science and Technology in Shandong, China (SDAST2024QTA056); and the Qilu Young Scholar Program of Shandong University.
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Y.-H.L. and M.Z. conceived this study. M.Z. and H.P. performed this study under the supervision of Y.-H.L. and C.-W.N. M.Z. and H.D.C. synthesized the samples and conducted out the electrical measurements. Q.H.Z. and Y.Z.H. conducted the STEM analysis. M.Z. and P.X.J. carried out the electrical measurements of the MLCCs. M.Z. and W.J.G. performed the TSDC measurement. M.Z. wrote the first draft of the manuscript. H.P., Y.-H.L., and C.-W.N. revised the paper. All authors discussed the results and revised the manuscript.
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Zhang, M., He, Y., Pan, H. et al. Ultrahigh energy-storage dielectric ceramics via synergistic polymorphic nanodomain and defect design. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70768-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70768-7
