Advanced Dielectric Polymeric Materials with Rational Design of Nano-Morphologies

Polymer dielectrics are widely used for energy storage in pulsed power systems and for improving the power efficiency such as in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and power grid. Many efforts have been made in materials design and processing to enhance the performance of dielectric polymers for meeting the ever-increasing requirements of reducing the size of devices and systems and emerging applications. In general, dielectric constant, dielectric loss, and breakdown strength comprehensively determine the performance of dielectric capacitors. It is a challenge to acquire desired properties specific to multiple applications by precisely tailoring the polymer structures. In this talk, we will present several strategies to modify the nanostructures for developing polymer dielectrics with outstanding performance. 1) high dielectric response of polymer nanocomposites with tiny amount of nanofillers (< 1vol%) while also enhancing dielectric strength; 2) ultra-high breakdown strength of polymer blends by rational design of interactions between polymer chains.