Space Charge Trapping and Conduction in Low-Density Polyethylene/Silica Nanocomposite

Abstract

The high field conduction and space charge distribution were investigated in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and LDPE/silica nanocomposites filled with various concentrations of nanosilica. The results indicate that nanosilica could effectively suppress space charge accumulation at nanofiller concentrations from 0.1 to 5.0 wt %. However, the conduction current at a high field significantly increases at low concentrations from 0.1 to 0.5 wt % and remarkably reduces at high concentrations from 0.5 to 5.0 wt %. It is shown that the trap depth corresponding to the time from 2 to 3600 s significantly decreases at low nanofiller concentrations from 0.1 to 0.5 wt %. However, the depth of deep traps corresponding to the time from 100 to 3600 s increases with the increase in nanofiller concentration from 0.5 to 5.0 wt %. Moreover, the depth of shallow traps corresponding to the time from 2 to 100 s increases at concentrations from 0.5 to 2.0 wt %, and then it decreases at concentrations from 2.0 to 5.0 wt %. In addition, the apparent mobility varies with the modification of trap depth caused by the introduction of nanofiller. The threshold field EΩ–t for remarkable charge injection and Et–c proportional to the total trap density H are significantly lower in the nanocomposite with a low nanosilica concentration, i.e., 0.1 and 0.5 wt %, while both of them increase at concentrations from 0.5 to 5.0 wt %. It is considered that the impurity effect is greater than the nanofiller effect at a low nanofiller concentration. The deep trap is speculated as the chemical trap in the interface of the nanofiller bonding strongly with the polymer chain, while the shallow trap may be related to the chemical trap in the weakly bonded interface. It is clear that the space charge behavior and conduction are significantly affected by modification of the trap depth and density distribution owing to the introduction of nanofiller.