High performance polymer/BaTiO3 nanocomposites based on surface-modified metal oxide nanoparticles using functional phosphonic acids for electronic applications

Polymer/ceramic nanocomposites provide a means of combining the high permittivities (εr) of metal oxide nanoparticles with the solution-processability and high dielectric strength of polymeric hosts. Simple mixing of nanoparticles and polymers generally results in poor quality nanocomposites due to the agglomeration of nanoparticles and poor miscibility of nanoparticles with host materials. We have shown that surface modification of metal oxide nanoparticles with phosphonic acid-based ligands affords robust surface modification and improves the processiblity and the quality of the resulting nanocomposites. We report on the use of phosphonic-acid modified barium titanate (BaTiO3, BT) nanoparticles in dielectric nanocomposites and their applications to high-energy-density capacitors and solution-processable high permittivity gate insulators in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). Surface modification of BT nanoparticles enabled the formation of high quality nanocomposite thin films with ferroelectric polymer hosts such as poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene), P(VDF-HFP), with large volume fractions (up to 50 vol. %), which are potentially useful materials for electrical energy storage. Similarly, the use of phosphonic acid-modified BT nanoparticles in cross-linked poly(4-vinylphenol) (PVP) allowed to form gate insulators for OFETs. High quality nanocomposite thin films at high nanoparticle volume fractions (up to 37 vol. %) with a large capacitance density (∼50 nF/cm2) and a low leakage current (10−8 A/cm2) were obtained. Pentacene-based p-type OFETs using these nanocomposites showed a large on/off current ratio (Ion/off 104 ∼ 106). We will also present the results from a recent experimental and theoretical study where the BT nanoparticle volume fraction was systematically varied in P(VDF-HFP) host, εr = 11, to find the optimum permittivity and dielectric strength, which provided a guideline for the optimization of the volume fraction for achieving maximum energy density.