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Graphene Enhanced Electrical Properties of Polyethylene Blends for High-Voltage Insulation

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Abstract

Graphene as a novel additive in low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene–low density polyethylene blend (10%HDPE–LDPE) and polypropylene–low density polyethylene blend (10%PP–LDPE), is investigated for promising eco-friendly insulating materials in high voltage cables. The composites with graphene amounts of 0, 0.002 wt%, 0.02 wt%, and 0.2 wt% are prepared by the solution mixing method. With attempt to disclose the structure–property relationships, the composites are extensively characterized by physical techniques including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry, and electrical measurements including electrical treeing, direct current conductivity and space charge distributions. Results show that graphene can significantly enhances the thermal stability of LDPE and 10%PP–LDPE, slightly decrease the degree of crystallinity, change the size of the crystal diameters, and improve the phase distribution of the polymer blends. Consequently, graphene can prolong the electrical tree initiation time and block the extension of electrical tree. Besides, it can modulate the trap distributions, which will further change the conductivity and ability to suppress space charge accumulations. This excellent performance of graphene could be attributed to its good exfoliation, uniform dispersion and outstretched morphology in the polymer matrix, as well as its strong ability to capture electrons.

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Acknowledgements

Zuojun Wei thanks the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21878269, 21476211), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LY14B060003) for financing this work. Xiangrong Chen thanks the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LY18E070003), the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFB0904400), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2018QNA4017), “Science and technology innovation 2025” Key Project of Ningbo City and the One-hundred Talents Program of Zhejiang University (A) for financing this work.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of the Ministry of Education, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Zuojun Wei, Yaxin Hou, Haiyan Liu & Anyun Zhang

  2. Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Electrical Machine Systems, College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Chen Jiang & Xiangrong Chen

  3. Research and Development Base of Catalytic Hydrogenation, College of Pharmaceutical Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China

    Yingxin Liu

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  1. Zuojun Wei
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Wei, Z., Hou, Y., Jiang, C. et al. Graphene Enhanced Electrical Properties of Polyethylene Blends for High-Voltage Insulation. Electron. Mater. Lett. 15, 582–594 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13391-019-00158-3

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