Electrical and thermal behavior of γ-phase poly(vinylidene fluoride)/NaY zeolite composites

• DOI: 10.1016/j.micromeso.2012.05.019
• Publication Date: 2012-05-26T17:01:43Z
• Authors: A.C. Lopes; C. Caparros; J.L. Gómez Ribelles; I.C. Neves; S. Lanceros-Mendez
• Keywords: Dielectric loss

Poly(vinylidene fluoride), PVDF, based composites with increasing NaY zeolite content up to 32 wt.% have been processed by solvent casting and melt crystallization. Depending on the melting temperature of the polymer, the composite crystallizes in the electroactive gamma or non electroactive a-phase of the polymer. The dielectric constant at room temperature reaches values larger that 1000 for the 32 wt.% composite at 1 kHz and it is mainly attributed to restricted ion mobility and interfacial polarization effects due to the zeolite inclusion, leading also to high dielectric losses. For the higher zeolite concentrations the composite d.c. electrical conductivity is characterized by two conducting regimes separated by a concentration independent breaking voltage of 4 V, which is associated to an intrazeolite charge transport.<br/>This work is funded by FEDER funds through the "Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade - COMPETE" and by National funds by FCT- Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Project references NANO/NMed-SD/0156/2007, PTDC/CTM/69316/2006, PEst-C/QUI/L110686/2011 and PTDC/CTM-NAN/112574/2009. ACL thanks the FCT for the Grant SFRH/BD/62507/2009. The authors also thank support from the COST Action MP1003, the 'European Scientific Network for Artificial Muscles' (ESNAM).<br/>