Interfacial Design in Dielectric Nanocomposite Using Liquid-Crystalline Polymers

Abstract

The interfacial region plays a critical role in determining the electrical properties of dielectric nanocomposites. The current state-of-the-art interfacial modification is predominantly based on utilizing flexible organic molecules, which are random polymer coils and generally collapse on the surface of any modified nanoparticles. This work focused on engineering the interfacial region between Na2Ti3O7 nanofibers and polymer matrix and, for the first time, utilized the liquid-crystalline polymer poly{2,5-bis[(4-methoxyphenyl)oxycarbonyl]styrene} (PMPCS) to modulate the interface where the rigid polymer was forced to form a straight conformation. Owing to the rigidity and orientation of PMPCS, a series of core–shell structured Na2Ti3O7@PMPCS nanofibers with finely tuned shell thickness were prepared. The prepared Na2Ti3O7@PMPCS/P(VDF-HFP) nanocomposites showed significantly different permittivity from 10.7 to 69.6 at 1 kHz with the gradient thicknesses of PMPCS shell. These results effectively proved that...