Electrical breakdown strength and interfacial trap characteristics of Epoxy/POSS nanocomposites

It is well known that the interfacial region between the polymeric matrix and nanofiller plays a very important role in tailoring the electrical insulation properties of nanocomposite. In this study two type of polyhedral-oligomeric-silsesquioxane (POSS) are doped into epoxy (EP) to investigate the tailoring of interfacial traps that can limit the mobility of charge carriers and enhance the breakdown strength . Incorporating acryloxypropyl POSS (AP-POSS) to EP matrix improves the breakdown strength than that of pristine EP and octaphenyl POSS (OP-POSS). The molecular simulation and experiments identifies that the compatibility between EP/POSS and trap depth is dependent on the interfacial interaction energy and crosslinking density. The side groups of AP-POSS has large number of localized energy states and higher electron affinity ( E A ) that can tailor deeper traps and restrain the mobility of electrons in EP/AP-POSS. The interfacial compatibility of POSS side groups with EP tune the interfacial traps and dielectric characteristics.