Decorating TiO2 Nanowires with BaTiO3 Nanoparticles: A New Approach Leading to Substantially Enhanced Energy Storage Capability of High-k Polymer Nanocomposites

The urgent demand of high energy density and high power density devices has triggered significant interest in high dielectric constant (high-k) flexible nanocomposites comprising dielectric polymer and high-k inorganic nanofiller. However, the large electrical mismatch between polymer and nanofiller usually leads to earlier electric failure of the nanocomposites, resulting in an undesirable decrease of electrical energy storage capability. A few studies show that the introduction of moderate-k shell onto a high-k nanofiller surface can decrease the dielectric constant mismatch, and thus, the corresponding nanocomposites can withstand high electric field. Unfortunately, the low apparent dielectric enhancement of the nanocomposites and high electrical conductivity mismatch between matrix and nanofiller still result in low energy density and low efficiency. In this study, it is demonstrated that encapsulating moderate-k nanofiller with high-k but low electrical conductivity shell is effective to significantly enhance the energy storage capability of dielectric polymer nanocomposites. Specifically, using BaTiO3 nanoparticles encapsulated TiO2 (BaTiO3@TiO2) core–shell nanowires as filler, the corresponding poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropylene) nanocomposites exhibit superior energy storage capability in comparison with the nanocomposites filled by either BaTiO3 or TiO2 nanowires. The nanocomposite film with 5 wt % BaTiO3@TiO2 nanowires possesses an ultrahigh discharged energy density of 9.95 J cm–3 at 500 MV m–1, much higher than that of commercial biaxial-oriented polypropylene (BOPP) (3.56 J cm–3 at 600 MV m–1). This new strategy and corresponding results presented here provide new insights into the design of dielectric polymer nanocomposites with high electrical energy storage capability.