Improving the charge dissipating performance and breakdown strength of epoxy resin by incorporating polydopamine-coated barium titanate

Incorporating inorganic filler is an efficient method to improve the surface charge dissipating performance of epoxy resin (EP), and the key is to strengthen the interfacial interaction between EP matrix and filler. In this work, the polydopamine (PDA) coated barium titanate (BT) was synthesized via commonly used in situ self-polymerization of dopamine in BT aqueous suspension, and then BT-PDA particles were introduced into EP matrix to prepare EP/BT-PDA composites. The introduction of PDA coating on the BT surfaces was able to strengthen the interfacial filler-matrix interactions, significantly improving the dispersion of BT-PDA particles in the EP/BT-PDA composites. As a result, the surface charge dissipation was effectively enhanced for the EP/BT-PDA composites, as the EP composite filled with 1.0 wt% BT-PDA exhibited the surface potential decreasing rate around twice as fast as that of pure EP.