Polymer-ceramic Nanocomposites for High Power Capacitors

We propose to develop new polymer-ceramic nanoparticle composites for high power capacitors. The new approach combines the leading-edge nanomaterials development and manufacturing at Agiltron will transfer the high dielectric constant fillers to our new nanodielctrics with extremely improved breakdown strength and extensively lowered dielectric loss. We expect to fully overcome the problems of current techniques by creating a high dielectric constant interphase region around filler particles and by using low filler loading to accomplish improvements in capacitors that are orders of magnitude improved over current devices. Our nanocomposites will have a dielectric constant 2 to 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of polyimide, a breakdown strength 2-3 times higher than that of polyimide, and dielectric loss lower than 0.01. Importantly, our nanodielectric films will be flexible due to the low filler loading, and they can be folded and rolled like plastic sheets to build compact capacitors. The goal of the proposed program is to develop new nanocomposite films for high power capacitors. The proposed dielectric films will be flexible, and thermally stable with high dielectric constant (hundreds to thousands), high breakdown strength, and low loss.