Approach to the fabrication of acrylic elastomer nanocomposites with high dielectric constants

Abstract

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) are a type of electroactive polymer that can deform in an electric field. The possession of a high dielectric constant is critical for DEs if they are to be suitable materials for the application of actuators. A novel elastomeric nanocomposite (ACE‐g‐CuPc) was fabricated by copper phthalocyanine oligomer (CuPc) grafting directly onto an acrylic elastomer (ACE) backbone. Compared with other synthetic methods, esterification has several advantages; these include fewer impurities and a simpler synthetic route. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the size of the CuPc particles of the ACE‐g‐CuPc was in the range 15–30 nm; this range was significantly smaller than that of ACE/CuPc (500 nm). The results of thermogravimetric analysis show that the thermal stability of the grafting composite was higher than that of the blending composite. At 100 Hz, the dielectric constant of the grafting composite (with 11 wt % CuPc) reached 173 at room temperature. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43904.

Advances in Polymeric Materials for Electromechanical Devices

“…Wang et al. later simplified the synthesis using a simple esterification to graft the CuPC . These acrylics containing 11 wt% of grafted CuPC exhibited a room temperature relative permittivity of 173 at 100 Hz, resembling that of the 10 wt% graft acrylic reported by Wang et al.…”

“…Although these materials have excellent electromechanical properties, they still required large electric fields to actuate due to the inherently low dielectric permittivity of acrylic elastomers. Zhang and coworkers recently reported acrylic elastomers with grafted copper phthalocyanine oligomer (CuPC) ( Figure b) pendant groups, which formed highly dielectric nanocomposites . The reaction of ‐OH groups from the acrylic copolymer with toluene diisocyante yielded functional isocyanate pendant groups as shown in Figure a .…”

Recent development on modification of synthesized barium titanate (BaTiO3) and polymer/BaTiO3 dielectric composites

“…In addition to rigid polymer resins, elastomers are also widely used for the fabrication of dielectric composites. [92] Thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (TPU)…”