Optimising the dielectric property of carbon nanotubes/P(VDF-CTFE) nanocomposites by tailoring the shell thickness of liquid crystalline polymer modified layer

Abstract

Interfacial modification is a good approach to improve the dielectric properties of nanocomposites. However, there are few reports to study the influence of interfacial modified thickness. In this study, the graft-from strategy was adopted to introduce the rigid liquid crystalline fluoropolymer (poly[2,5-bis[(4-trifluoromethoxyphenyl)-oxycarbonyl]] styrene (PTFMS) onto the surface of carbon nanotubes (CNT). The shell thickness increased from 20 ± 3 to 62 ± 6 nm via controlling the ratio of monomer to the initiator. The results indicated that the dielectric properties of the P(VDF-CTFE) nanocomposites with the modified CNT were significantly enhanced compared with those original CNT, and the maximum dielectric constant of nanocomposites with 1.25 vol% CNT@PTFMS containing the thickest thickness reached 36 at 40 Hz due to the highest micro-capacitors, which was 360% than the neat P(VDF-CTFE). This work provides the perspective to understand the relationship between the shell thickness and dielectric property of polymer nanocomposites based on conductive fillers.

Keywords

• dielectric materials
• liquid crystal polymers
• nanofabrication
• liquid crystal phase transformations
• polymer blends
• optical microscopy
• polymer films
• carbon nanotubes
• nanocomposites
• permittivity
• dielectric property
• liquid crystalline polymer
• polymer nanocomposites
• micro-capacitors
• dielectric constant
• p(vdf-ctfe) nanocomposites
• shell thickness
• ptfms
• carbon nanotubes-p(vdf-ctfe) nanocomposites
• liquid crystalline fluoropolymer (poly[2,5-bis[(4-trifluoromethoxyphenyl)-oxycarbonyl]] styrene