With the concept of environmental protection is deeply popular, the power cables change from traditional thermosetting cross‐linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables to low‐carbon, environmentally friendly, recyclable polypropylene (PP) cables and the semi‐conductive shielding layer that matches the insulation layer for PP cables is highly valued. In this paper, LDPE is replaced with PP in the formulation of shielding layer of commercial XLPE cables. The physicochemical and electrical properties of PP/EVA/CB (PP‐based) and LDPE/EVA/CB (LDPE‐based) shielding layers were compared. The effect of interface matching characteristics on the electric field distortion was analyzed by finite element simulation software. The experimental results show that the volume resistivity of the shielding layers all tend to rise with the increasing temperature, but the resistivity of the PP‐based shielding layer has a smaller fluctuation. The PP‐based shielding layer has a smoother surface, while the space charge injected into the PP insulation layer is the lowest, about 0.433 × 10−7 C. Compared to the LDPE‐based shielding layer/insulation layer, the PP‐based shielding layer/insulation layer has a 50% reduction in interfacial electric field distortion rate. This work is an essential reference for the development for PP cables and their shielding layer selection.

Nanoparticles are found to have the capacity to improve the specific properties of polypropylene (PP) for recyclable cable insulation material. However, previous studies have focused on the modification effect at room temperature, and few studies, on the nano-modification effect under high temperature environments. This article aims to study the effects of nanoparticles on the electrical and dielectric properties of PP at different high temperatures. Both TiO2 nanoparticles and PP/TiO2 nanocomposite samples are prepared in the laboratory by the wet chemical method and surface modification. Then, the AC and DC breakdown strength, conductivity, permittivity, and dielectric loss of the PP/TiO2 nanocomposite are measured at different temperatures. The results show that TiO2 nanoparticles introduce a small amount of charge traps into PP to restrain the conductivity and improve the breakdown strength of PP. But due to the additional interfacial polarization between TiO2 nanoparticles and the PP matrix, the permittivity and dielectric loss of the PP/TiO2 nanocomposite are enhanced, especially at low frequency.

In order to explore the development and research trends of polypropylene (PP) in electrical engineering, the research literature is quantitatively analyzed using a bibliometric method with the VOSviewer and CiteSpace software. First, the research literature about PP material in electrical engineering applications is collected, from 1990 to 2022. Then, by analyzing the keyword co-occurrence, keyword co-occurrence timezone, author cooperation network, and national cooperation network, the research hotspots of the PP field and its time evolutionary path and development direction are introduced. It is found that the nano-modification, mechanical, and electrical properties are the most popular research hotspots in this field. Most research studies were completed by few specific researchers. A stable cooperative group has not been formed in this field yet, indicating the necessity of further integration. Most articles about PP were published in dielectric and material journals. It is suggested that more open access journals are required to popularize the existing research results among the public and to promote the development of PP. Although the most published country is China, the United States publishes the most cited papers on average.