title: Ferroelectric barium titanate nanocubes as capacitive building blocks for energy storage applications.
abstract: Highly uniform polymer-ceramic nanocomposite films with high energy density values were fabricated by exploiting the unique ability of monodomain, nonaggregated BaTiO3 colloidal nanocrystals to function as capacitive building blocks when dispersed into a weakly interacting dielectric matrix. Monodisperse, surface-functionalized ferroelectric 15 nm BaTiO3 nanoparticles have been selectively incorporated with a high packing density into poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropene) (P(VDF-HFP)) leading to the formation of biphasic BaTiO3-P(VDF-HFP) nanocomposite films. A systematic investigation of the electrical properties of the nanocomposites by electrostatic force microscopy and conventional dielectric measurements reveals that polymer-ceramic film capacitor structures exhibit a ferroelectric relaxor-type behavior with an increased intrinsic energy density. The composite containing 7% BaTiO3 nanocrystals displays a high permittivity (ε = 21) and a relatively high energy density (E = 4.66 J/cm(3)) at 150 MV/m, which is 166% higher than that of the neat polymer and exceeds the values reported in the literature for polymer-ceramic nanocomposites containing a similar amount of nanoparticle fillers. The easy processing and electrical properties of the polymer-ceramic nanocomposites make them suitable for implementation in pulse power capacitors, high power systems and other energy storage applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Science of Advanced Materials (SAM) Program, Central Michigan University , Mt. Pleasant, Michigan 48858, United States.
authors.forename: Saman Salemizadeh
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Parizi
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mellinger
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caruntu
keywords: barium titanate; capacitor; energy storage; ferroelectrics; nanocrystals