Experimental research has shown that much less charge injection occurs in polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) compared to polyethylene (PE). To clarify the mechanisms of charge injection from metals into polymer insulators, we comparatively studied charge injection in PE and PTFE oligomers using first-principles calculations. Two different models were studied: chemisorption (bonding) and physisorption (nonbonding). The results show that the electron injection barrier of the metal/PTFE interface is larger than that of the metal/PE interface only in the case of chemisorption. The larger electron injection barrier of the metal/PTFE oligomer interface is mainly affected by the positive vacuum level shift of the metal/PTFE interface induced by electron transfer from the metal to PTFE along the chemical bonds. In the case of physisorption, the hole injection barrier of the metal/PTFE interface is larger than that of the metal/PE interface. This is attributed to the larger ionization potential of PTFE compared to PE. The calculated results reasonably explain the experimental phenomena. The agreement between the experimental and calculated results verifies the rationality of our calculation models. The models used herein can likely be applied in other metal/polymer interfacial systems with acceptable accuracy.

We report on measurements of the dielectric permittivity of NiO-based ceramics doped with Zr ͑ZNO͒. Samples were prepared by the traditional solid-state reaction method. The concentration of Zr has an effect on the dielectric properties of ZNO ceramics. High permittivity values ͑ϳ10 4 ͒ were observed which remain almost constant from 200 K to 350 K at low frequencies. The high-dielectric-constant response of the ZNO ceramics is attributed mainly to a grain boundary ͑internal͒ barrier layer capacitance.

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Cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) is often manufactured as pipe, film and foam products and used as electric insulation material. To improve the dielectric properties of XLPE film, CF4 dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is applied as a surface modification method. The surface of XLPE film was modified at the low pressure of 1 kPa with different treatment time (15s, 30s, 60s, 120s, 240s and 480s). Electrical and optical characteristics are observed during DBD process, including applied voltage, measured current, photograph and emission spectra. Then, the surface properties, which are hydrophobicity, chemical composition, surface morphology, trap depth, dielectric loss and AC breakdown voltage, have been measured or observed by water contact angle test, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), isothermal relaxation current (IRC), frequency domain spectroscopy (FDS) and withstand voltage test. After the surface modification, the water contact angle, trap depth and breakdown voltage increase first and then decrease with treatment time extending. Meanwhile, the dielectric loss has an opposite trend, which represents better dielectric properties. The reason is that fluorine can reduce the surface energy, which can significantly influence the water contact angle. Better hydrophobicity can restrain the accumulation of outside pollution on the surface. Moreover, fluorine has strong electronegativity, so amorphous crystalline and impurities interface trap depth become deeper and the dielectric loss becomes lower. Therefore, appropriate DBD treatment conditions can apparently improve XLPE dielectric properties.

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