Abstract
The development of light and flexible capacitive energy storage devices with high electrical energy densities is of crucial significance to respond to the ever-rising demands in advanced applications and electricity needs. Incorporation of high dielectric constant ceramic fillers inside the ferroelectric polymer matrix offers great potential to improve the energy density of dielectric materials. However, this approach often suffers from highly reduced breakdown strength caused by the large difference of the matrix and filler dielectric constants together with often poor dispersion of the ceramic additives inside the polymer. Here, we demonstrate a simple method for the preparation of improved polymer-based dielectric nanocomposites based on self-assembly of medium dielectric constant hafnium oxide nanorods using ferroelectric block copolymer. The prepared nanocomposites exhibit both improved discharged energy densities and charge-discharge efficiencies, whereas they preserve their function up to comparable electric fields as the pristine block copolymer. The enhancement of the properties is mostly ascribed to the formation of deeper charge traps due to nanorod induced crosslinking inside amorphous domains and the reduction of ferroelectric loss influenced by creation of an additional paraelectric phase in nanocomposites.
Highlights
The development and ever-growing application of renewable solar, wind and biomass energy, caused by many ecological reasons and draining of the fossil fuel sources, have increased the need for advanced high efficiency electrical energy storage and conversion technologies [1]
We present an effective approach to address and overcome issues related to the preparation of dielectric polymer nanocomposites using a ferroelectric relaxor P2VP-b-P(VDF-TrFE)-b-P2VP block copolymer as a template to guide the dispersion of nano-objects (Scheme 1)
This block copolymer displayed a strong phase separation in the melt forming a lamellar morphology with a P2VP layer thickness comparable in size to the length of the synthesized hafnium oxide nanorods, which improves the probability for a successful dispersion of nanorods inside P2VP layers
Summary
The development and ever-growing application of renewable solar, wind and biomass energy, caused by many ecological reasons and draining of the fossil fuel sources, have increased the need for advanced high efficiency electrical energy storage and conversion technologies [1]. The formation of strong hydrogen bonds between the surface of hafnium oxide nanorods and P2VP domains drives the selective homogeneous dispersion of ceramic nanorods inside lamellar domains made via the self-assembly process, whereas the medium dielectric constant of the filler prevents local distortions of the electric field Applying this approach for the preparation of dielectric materials grants a homogeneous dispersion of nanoparticles and reduced dielectric losses, improved discharged energy density and 34% improvement in the charge-discharge efficiency compared to the pristine block copolymer
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