High Discharge Energy Density at Low Electric Field Using an Aligned Titanium Dioxide/Lead Zirconate Titanate Nanowire Array

Abstract

Polymer‐based capacitors with high energy density have attracted significant attention in recent years due to their wide range of potential applications in electronic devices. However, the obtained high energy density is predominantly dependent on high applied electric field, e.g., 400–600 kV mm−1, which may bring more challenges relating to the failure probability. Here, a simple two‐step method for synthesizing titanium dioxide/lead zirconate titanate nanowire arrays is exploited and a demonstration of their ability to achieve high discharge energy density capacitors for low operating voltage applications is provided. A high discharge energy density of 6.9 J cm−3 is achieved at low electric fields, i.e., 143 kV mm−1, which is attributed to the high relative permittivity of 218.9 at 1 kHz and high polarization of 23.35 µC cm−2 at this electric field. The discharge energy density obtained in this work is the highest known for a ceramic/polymer nanocomposite at such a low electric field. The novel nanowire arrays used in this work are applicable to a wide range of fields, such as energy harvesting, energy storage, and photocatalysis.

Interface design for high energy density polymer nanocomposites

“…The application of a nanowire array was also an effective way to achieve the alignment of nanowires in polymer composites and obtain enhanced dielectric and energy storage performance. Zhang and Luo et al 274,275 successfully synthesized titanium dioxide/lead zirconate titanate (TiO 2 -PZT) nanowire arrays by a simple two-step method, and demonstrated their ability to achieve high discharge energy density in P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) based polymer composites under low operating voltage applications, as shown in Fig. 37.…”

An alternating multilayer architecture boosts ultrahigh energy density and high discharge efficiency in polymer composites

“…Specically, the ber orientation, interpenetrating gradient, multilayer ller, core-shell structure and array structure can yield higher U e , and reliable dielectric properties can be obtained from these nanocomposites. 26,27,[29][30][31][32][33][34] However, all these nanocomposites show a relatively low discharge efficiency, h (<75%), which is a critical issue that has long been overlooked in previous studies on dielectric materials. 25,35 A low discharge efficiency means that a massive amount of wasted energy has to be converted into surface energy of breakdown paths and Joule heat, resulting in early failure of dielectric materials before their intrinsic E b .…”

3D printing of anisotropic polymer nanocomposites with aligned BaTiO3 nanowires for enhanced energy density

“…[15][16][17] PVDF based nanocomposites with embedded ferroelectric ceramics such as BaTiO 3 , 18,19 Ba 1Àx Sr x TiO 3 , 20 and Pb(Zr 1Àx Ti x )O 3 21 show enhanced energy density due to the combination of the high relative permittivity from the ferroelectric ceramics and high breakdown strength from the PVDF polymer matrix. In our previous work, ceramic fillers with high aspect ratios, such as BaTiO 3 , [22][23][24] Na 0.5 Bi 0.5 TiO 3 , 25 TiO 2 @PZT, 26,27 and Na 2 Ti 3 O 7 nanowires 28 were employed to build dielectric capacitors with improved permittivity and energy density. The improvment in energy density is attributed to the high breakdown strength mainatined by low ceramic loadings and increased relative permittivity due to the high aspect ratio fillers.…”