Barium Titanate/Polymer Nanoscale Composites with Controllable Architectures

50987-98-I Barium Titanate/Polymer Nanoscale Composites with Controllable Architectures--TPL, Inc, 3921 Academy Parkway North, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109-4416; (505) 342-4414 Dr. Erik P. Luther, Principal Investigator Dr. William F. Hartman, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG03-98ER82699 Amount: $75,000 New materials are sought to improve the speed and efficiency of next generation circuit boards and provide new methods of storing energy. In many cases, engineers have turned to composites as alternatives to monolithic materials. Processing methods are needed to produce nanoscale composites which derive unique properties from their well-ordered structure. Research into polymer/ceramic nanocomposites can be both practical and help explain the relationship of the microstructure to the material properties. This project will develop a novel technique to separate a block of copolymer into separate microphases with well-ordered nanostructured domains. Barium titanate will be hydrothermally synthesized to form a barium titanate/polymer composite with improved dielectric properties. In Phase I, a series of block copolymers of polyimide and polydimethylsiloxane will be synthesized with different volume fractions of the two components. The morphology of the microphase separation will be studied as a function of the polymer ratios. A titanium alkoxide which is miscible in only one of the polymer phrases will be introduced into the block copolymer and converted to barium titanate by hydrothermal synthesis. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Barium titanate/polymer composites would find use as high energy density capacitor materials for efficient energy storage devices. The composite would also be useful as passive embedded layers, improving the speed and efficiency of next generation circuit boards._