Gold nanoparticle/PVDF polymer composite with improved particle dispersion

A substantial amount of work has been carried out in the area of dielectric nanocomposite materials. However, reported nanocomposite materials generally have disadvantages such as high dielectric loss mainly due to the nanoparticle agglomeration. Here, we present a novel nanocomposite material having polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) functionalized gold nanoparticles (5 nm in diameter) embedded inside a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) host polymer. A homogeneous dispersion of gold nanoparticles with low particle agglomeration has been achieved, up to 5 wt % of nanoparticles. Fabricated nanoparticle polymer composite films showed the absence of voids and cracks. Also, no evidence of macro-phase separation of nanoparticles from the polymer phase was observed.