Three dimensional printing of high dielectric capacitor using projection based stereolithography method

We report that efficient high dielectric polymer/ceramic composite materials can be optically printed into three-dimensional (3D) capacitor by the projection based stereolithography (SLA) method. Surface decoration of Ag on Pb(Zr,Ti)O3(PZT@Ag) particles were used as filler to enhance the dielectric permittivity. Polymer nanocomposites were fabricated by incorporating PZT@Ag particles into the photocurable polymer solutions, followed by exposure to the digitally controlled optical masks to generate 3D structures. The dielectric permittivity of Flex/PZT@Ag composite reaches as high as 120 at 100 Hz with 18 vol% filler, which is about 30 times higher than that of pure Flex. Furthermore, the dielectric loss is as low as 0.028 at 100 Hz. The results are in good agreement with the effective medium theory (EMT) model. The calculated specific capacitance of our 3D printed capacitor is about 63 F g−1 at the current density of 0.5 A g−1. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) curves indicate 3D printed capacitors possess low resistance and ideal capacitive properties. These results not only provide a tool to fabricate capacitor with complex shapes but lay the groundwork for creating highly efficient polymer-based composites via 3D printing method for electronic applications.