Largely enhanced energy storage performance in multilayered ferroelectric polymer nanocomposites with optimized spatial arrangement of ceramic nanofillers

Dielectric materials with ultrahigh power density play an important role in modern electrical applications. Herein, we propose and demonstrate a class of newly designed multilayered polymer nanocomposites prepared via a systemically optimized electrospinning method. These multilayered nanocomposites are stacked with P(VDF-HFP) layers and P(VDF-HFP)/BaTiO3 layers alternately. Our results uncover that the heptalayered nanocomposites present superior breakdown strength among five different multilayered composites, which is owing to the increased layers interfaces. The further tailored spatial arrangement of BaTiO3 nanoparticles (BT NPs) in the hierarchical structure offers an additional increment in breakdown strength and energy density. The synergistic effects of hierarchical structure and gradient distribution of nanofillers furnish the resulting nanocomposites with much enhanced collective energy storage properties including a largely enhanced energy density of 17 J cm−3 and an ultrahigh breakdown strength of 635 MV m−1. This work provides a feasible route to improve the energy storage performance for dielectric nanocomposites.