Preparation, microstructures and properties of lotus-shaped Zinc oxide/PVDF composite materials

With the rapid development of modern electronic industry, the miniaturization and multi-function of electronic products proposed new requirements to the densely packing of electronic components in the electronic circuits. A high permittivity, low dielectric loss, large energy density dielectric materials are needed. The single inorganic materials or polymer materials are difficult to meet the requirements. As such, the polymer matrix composites using the polymer as the matrix which doped conducting or ferroelectric fillers came into being. Such materials came to meet the various requirements of the production through its superior performance. This article describes the synthesis of Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles with novel lotus-shaped and the preparation and characterization on the ZnO doped polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix composites. The composition and structures of ZnO nanoparticles and ZnO/PVDF composite materials are characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The breakdown voltage of composites was also tested. Results showed that the zinc oxide particles are in nanoscale size, lotus-shaped and it was uniformly dispersed in PVDF matrix. The dielectric constant of PVDF composite film which added Fe doped ZnO nanoparticles appears a significantly enhanced with the addition of ZnO nanoparticles. Moreover, the results also showed that no obviously decreased in the electrical breakdown strength of composites were found at low ZnO contents.