Abstract
To increase the electric energy density of dielectric elastomer substantially, high dielectric constant nanocomposites were developed using polyurethane (PU) as matrix and copper phthalocyanine oligomer (CuPc)—a high dielectric constant organic semiconductor—as filler. Transmission electron microscope (TEM)-observed morphologies revealed that the sizes of CuPc particles in nanocomposite of PU chemically attached with 8.78 vol% of CuPc were in the range of 10–20 nm, much smaller than the sizes (250–600 nm) in the physical blend of PU with the same volume fraction of CuPc. At 100 Hz, the nanocomposite film exhibited a dielectric constant of 391, representing more than 60-fold increase with respect to the pure PU. The enhanced dielectric response of the nanocomposite makes it possible to induce a high electromechanical response under a much reduced electric field (a strain of 17.7 % was achieved under a field of 10 V/μm).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Stoyanov H, Brochu P, Niu XF, Lai C, Yuna S, Pei QB (2013) Long lifetime, fault-tolerant freestanding actuators based on a silicone dielectric elastomer and self-clearing carbon nanotube compliant electrodes. RSC Adv 3:2272–2278
Huang JH, Shian S, Suo ZG, Clarke DR (2013) Maximizing the energy density of dielectric elastomer generators using equi-biaxial loading. Adv Funct Mater. doi:10.1002/adfm.201300402
Stoyanov H, Kollosche M, Risse S, McCarthy DN, Kofod G (2011) Elastic block copolymer nanocomposites with controlled interfacial interactions for artificial muscles with direct voltage control. Soft Matter 7:194–202
Bozlar M, Punckt C, Korkut S, Zhu J, Foo CC, Suo ZG, Aksay IA (2012) Dielectric elastomer actuators with elastomeric electrodes. Appl Phys Lett 101:091907-1–091907-5
Anderson IA, Gisby TA, McKay TG, O’Brien BM, Calius P (2012) Multi-functional dielectric elastomer artificial muscles for soft and smart machines. J Appl Phys 112:041101-1–04110120
O’Halloran A, O’Malley F, McHugh P (2008) A review on dielectric elastomer actuators, technology, applications, and challenges. J Appl Phys 104:071101-1–07110110
Pelrine R, Kornbluh R, Pei QB, Joseph J (2000) High-speed electrically actuated elastomers with strain greater than 100%. Science 287:836–839
Kornbluh R, Heydt R, Pelrine R (2009) In: Carpi F, Smela E (eds) Biomedical applications of electroactive polymer actuators. Wiley, West Sussex, pp 387–392
Opris DM, Molberg M, Nüesch F, Löwe C, Walder C, Fischer B (2011) Dielectric elastomer materials for actuators and energy harvesting. Proc. SPIE 7976, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD), 79760G
Walder C, Molberg M, Opris DM, Nüesch FA, Löwe C, Plummer CJG., Leterrier Y, Manson JAE (2009) High k dielectric elastomeric materials for low voltage applications. Proc. SPIE 7287, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD), 72870Q
Molberg M, Leterrier Y, Plummer CJG., Löwe C, Opris DM, Clemens F, Manson JAE (2010) Elastomer actuators: systematic improvement in properties by use of composite materials. Proc. SPIE 7642, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD), 76420M
Galantini F, Bianchi S, Castelvetro V, Gallone G (2013) Functionalized carbon nanotubes as a filler for dielectric elastomer composites with improved actuation performance. Smart Mater Struct 22:055025
Opris DM, Molberg M, Walder C, Ko YS, Fischer B, Nüesch F (2011) New silicone composites for dielectric elastomer actuator applications in competition with acrylic foil. Adv Funct Mater 21:3531–3539
Molberg M, Crespy D, Nüesch FA, Manson JAE, Löwe C, Opris DM (2010) High breakdown field dielectric elastomer actuators using encapsulated polyaniline as high dielectric constant filler. Adv Funct Mater 20:3280–3291
Zhang QM, Li HF, Poh M, Xu HS, Cheng ZY, Xia F, Huang C (2002) An all-organic composite actuator material with a high dielectric constant. Nature (London) 419:284–287
Wang JW, Wang Y, Wang F, Li SQ, Xiao J, Shen QD (2009) A large enhancement in dielectric properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride) based all-organic nanocomposite. Polymer 50:679–684
Wang JW, Wang Y, Li SQ, Xiao J (2010) Enhanced dielectric response in P(VDF-TrFE) based all-organic nanocomposites. J Polym Sci Part B Polym Phys 48:490–495
Nalwa HS, Dalton LR, Vasudevan P (1985) Dielectric properties of copper-phthalocyanine polymer. Euro Polym J 21:943–947
Wang JW, Shen QD, Bao HM, Yang CZ, Zhang QM (2005) Microstructure and dielectric properties of P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) with partially grafted copper phthalocyanine oligomer. Macromolecules 38:2247–2252
Li JY (2003) Exchange coupling in P(VDF-TrFE) copolymer based all-organic composites with giant electrostriction. Phys Rev Lett 90:217601
Achar BN, Fohlen GG, Parker JA (1982) Phthalocyanine polymers. II.Synthesis and characterizeation of some metal phthalocyanine sheet oligomers. J Polym Sci Polym Chem 20:1785–1790
Wang JW, Shen QD, Yang CZ, Zhang QM (2004) High dielectric constant composite of P(VDF-TrFE) with grafted copper phthalocyanine oligomer. Macromolecules 37:2294–2298
Ma J, Liu CH, Li R, Wu HX, Zhu LN, Yang YJ (2011) Preparation and properties of castor oil-based polyurethane/a-zirconium phosphate composite films. J Appl Polym Sci 121:1815–1822
Huang C, Zhang QM, DeBotton G, Bhattacharya K (2004) All-organic dielectric-percolative three-component composite materials with high electromechanical response. Appl Phys Lett 84:4391–4393
Seanor DA (1982) Electrical properties of polymers. Academic Press, New York
Bobnar V, Levstik A, Huang C, Zhang QM (2004) Distinctive contributions from organic filler and relaxorlike polymer matrix to dielectric response of CuPc-P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) composite. Phys Rev Lett 92:047604
Bobnar V, Levstik A, Huang C, Zhang QM (2006) Dielectric properties and charge transport in all-organic relaxorlike CuPc-P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) composite and its constituents. Ferroelectrics 338:107–116
Opris DM, Nüesch F, Löwe C, Molberg M, Nagel M (2008) Synthesis, characterization, and dielectric properties of phthalocyanines with ester and carboxylic acid functionalities. Chem Mater 20:6889–6896
Lillo LD, Schmidt A, Carnelli DA, Ermanni P, Kovacs G, Mazza E, Bergamini A (2012) Measurement of insulating and dielectric properties of acrylic elastomer membranes at high electric fields. J Appl Phys 111:024904
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21174063), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20131358), and the Aeronautical Science Foundation of China (No. 2011ZF52063).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, J., Wu, C., Liu, R. et al. A polyurethane-based elastomeric nanocomposite with a high dielectric constant. Polym. Bull. 71, 1263–1276 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-014-1127-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-014-1127-0