Novel Hybrid Polymer Dielectrics Based on Group 14 Chemical Motifs

Abstract

The present contribution provides a strategy to enhance the dielectric constant of polyethylene by chemical modification while not overly compromising its large band gap. Isolated polyethylene chains are considered and the CH2 motifs in the backbone are allowed to be substituted by a number of Group 14 motifs, including SiF2, SiCl2, GeF2, GeCl2, SnF2, and SnCl2, in a systematic, progressive, and exhaustive combinatorial manner. Our results indicate that consecutive SnF2 or GeF2 motifs in the polyethylene backbone are most desirable, which can lead to systems with dielectric constant as high as 47.