Interface Enhancement-Induced Improvement of Dielectric Traits in Poly(Ether Sulfone)/Ti3C2 MXene/KH550 Nanocomposites
Two-dimensional conductive MXenes are employed as fillers for fabricating polymer-based high-permittivity composite dielectrics. However, high dielectric loss from high interfacial leakage conduction is a shortcoming. To obtain low interfacial leakage conduction, in this work we selected high-modulus poly(ether sulfone) (PES) as matrix and (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (KH550) as interface compatibilizer. Ternary PES/Ti3C2 MXene/KH550 nanocomposites were fabricated by solution casting. Compared with PES/MXene composites, the ternary counterparts have improved permittivity and reduced dielectric loss and conductivity. The increased permittivity is ascribed to enhanced interfacial polarization. The reduction in dielectric loss and conductivity stems from lower interfacial leakage conduction as a result of improved interface compatibility. The ternary composite with 4 wt.% MXene exhibited high permittivity of ~ 81, low dielectric loss of ~ 0.12 and low conductivity of ~ 6.3 × 10−7 S m−1 at 100 Hz. This work may enable the large-scale fabrication of promising composite dielectrics.