To improve ferroelectric properties of PZT, many studies have attempted to fabricate dense PZT films. The AD process has an advantage for forming dense ceramic films at room temperature without any additional heat treatment in low vacuum. Thick films coated by AD have a higher dielectric breakdown strength due to their higher density than those coated using conventional methods. To improve the breakdown strength, glass (SiO2-Al2O3-Y2O3, SAY) is mixed with PZT powder at various volume ratios (PZT-xSAY, x = 0, 5, 10 vol%) and coating films are produced on silicon wafers by AD method. Depending on the ratio of PZT to glass, dielectric breakdown strength and energy storage efficiency characteristics change. Mechanical impact in the AD process makes the SAY glass more viscous and fills the film densely. Compared to pure PZT film, PZT-SAY film shows an 87.5% increase in breakdown strength and a 35.3 % increase in energy storage efficiency.

Lead free (Ba0.7Ca0.3) TiO3 thick films with nano-sized grains are prepared using an aerosol deposition (AD) method at room temperature. The crystallinity of the AD thick films is enhanced by a post annealing process. Contrary to the sharp phase transition of bulk ceramics that has been reported, AD films show broad phase transition behaviors due to the nanosized grains. The polarization-electric hysteresis loop of annealed AD film shows ferroelectric behaviors. With an increase in annealing temperature, the saturation polarization increases because of an increase in crystallinity. However, the remnant polarization and cohesive field are not affected by the annealing temperature. BCT AD thick films annealed at 700 ℃/2h have an energy density of 1.84 J/cm3 and a charge-discharge efficiency of 69.9%, which is much higher than those of bulk ceramic with the same composition. The higher energy storage properties are likely due to the increase in the breakdown field from a large number of grain boundaries of nano-sized grains.

Composites of insulating polyethylene and carbon black are widely used in switching elements, conductive paint, and other applications due to the large gap of resistance value. This research addresses the critical exponent of dielectric breakdown strength of polymer matrix composites (PMC) made with carbon black and polyethylene below the percolation threshold (Pt) for the first time. Here, Pt means the volume fraction of carbon black of which the resistance of the PMC is transferred from its sharp decrease to gradual decrease in accordance with the increase of carbon-black-filled content. First, the Pt is determined based on the critical exponents of resistivity and relative permittivity. Although huge cohesive bodies of carbon black are formed in case of being less than the Pt, a percolation path connecting the conducting phases is not formed. The dielectric breakdown strength (Dbs) of the PMC below Pt is measured by using an impulse voltage in the range from 10 kV to 40 kV to avoid the effect of joule heating. Although the observed Dbs data seems to be well fitted to a straight line with a slope of 0.9 on a double logarithm of (Pt-VCB) and Dbs, the least squares method gives a slope of 0.97 for the PMC. It has been found that finite carbon-black clusters play an important role in dielectric breakdown.