Tunable Dielectric Spectroscopy of PVDF Thin Films Crossbred with TiO2 Nanoparticles for the Storage Devices

Abstract

AbstractPolyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) is a semi‐crystalline ferroelectric polymer with a wide range of interesting properties and shows potentiality in a variety of technological applications. Flexible thin films of PVDF nanocomposites (NCs) have attracted many researchers due to their tunable electronic properties. This paper reports the synthesis, characterization, and dielectric studies of PVDF‐TiO2 NC thin films. The synthesized films are self‐supporting thin and the average thickness of the thin films is 60 µm measured using a Digital thickness gauge of resolution 0.01 mm. TiO2 nanoparticles are prepared using the combustion method. Commercially available PVDF granules are used to develop PVDF‐TiO2 NC thin films using the film casting technique. The structural study of the prepared thin films is carried out using XRD that confirms the retention of the β‐phase of PVDF. The functional group and bonding nature have been studied using FTIR Spectroscopy. The thermal stability of the NC thin films is studied using TGA. The variation of dielectric constant (DC), dielectric loss (DL), AC conductivity, and dissipation factor of the medium of pristine PVDF and PVDF‐TiO2 NC thin films are studied in the frequency range of 10 Hz to 8 MHz at ambient temperature. The dielectric constant of PVDF‐TiO2 NC thin films increases up to 8 wt% and anomaly for 10 wt% of TiO2 fillers in the PVDF matrix at a lower frequency and found to decrease with increasing frequency. The dielectric loss of NC thin films is high at a lower frequency and decreases with an increase in the frequency that is in good agreement with the Maxwell–Wagner type of interfacial polarization. At lower frequencies, the dielectric constant of PVDF‐TiO2 NC increases with the increase in filler content. AC conductivity shows a sharp increase at higher frequencies whereas the dissipation factor of the polymer NCs remains unaltered with respect to frequency by maintaining the trend. This suggests that PVDF‐TiO2 NC is potential material for energy storage devices.