Surface Modification of Hetero-phase Nanoparticles for Low-Cost Solution-Processable High-k Dielectric Polymer Nanocomposites

The surface modification of nanoparticles (NPs) is crucial for fabricating polymer nanocomposites (NCs) with high dielectric permittivity. Here, we systematically studied the effect of surface functionalization of TiO2 and BaTiO3 NPs to enhance the dielectric permittivity of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) NCs by 23 and 74%, respectively, measured at a frequency of 1 kHz. To further increase the dielectric permittivity of PVDF/NPs-based NCs, we developed a new hetero-phase filler-based approach that is cost-effective and easy to implement. At a 1:3 mixing ratio of TiO2:BaTiO3 NPs, the dielectric constant of the ensuing NC is found to be 50.2, which is comparable with the functionalized BaTiO3-based NC. The highest dielectric constant value of 76.1 measured at 1 kHz was achieved using the (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES)-modified hetero-phase-based PVDF composite at a volume concentration of 5%. This work is an important step toward inexpensive and easy-to-process high-k nanocomposite dielectrics.