Effect of Nano Titanium Dioxide on the Electrical and Thermal Properties of Poly(2,2,2-Trifluoroethyl Methacrylate) for Dielectric Materials

The increasing application areas of energy storage devices in recent years make it necessary to produce materials with sufficient efficiency. In this study, composites of poly(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl methacrylate) P(TFEM) homopolymer with nano titanium dioxide (TiO2 NPs) were prepared for applications of these devices requiring thermoelectric properties, and their thermal, dielectric, and electrical properties were investigated. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that TiO2 NPs in all composites limited the thermal diffusion of TiO2 NPs in the polymer matrix and increased the thermal stability of P(TFEM) from 341°C to 361.5°C. As dielectric properties, the dielectric constant (ε′), dielectric loss (ε″), AC conductivity (σac), and real (Z′) and imaginary (Z″) components of impedance of the composites containing TiO2 NPs were evaluated as functions of frequency and different weight percentages of TiO2 NPs. Increases in ε′ and ε″ at up to 15 wt% TiO2 NPs suggested increased dipole polarization. At 100 Hz, the ε″ value of P(TFEM) increased from 3.2 × 10−2 to 1.1 × 10−2, σac increased from 4.98 × 10−10 to 1.00 × 10−8, Z′ increased from 3.67 × 1010 to 8.66 × 1010, and Z″ increased from 2.09 × 108 to 4.42 × 108. Furthermore, ε′, ε″, and impedance decreased with increasing frequency for both P(TFEM) and TiO2 NPs composites, while σac increased with increasing frequency.