Polymer Science Faculty Research

Title

Rationally Designed Poly(Dimethyltin Glutarate) as a High Dielectric Organometallic Polymer for Energy Storage Applications

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

Spring 3-16-2014

Abstract

Tenets support the construction of large capacitor banks to provide the power needed for modern electrochemical devices currently being constructed, such as rail guns and the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS). The industrial standard for the dielectric material incorporated into high energy density capacitors is biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP), which has an energy density of 5 Jcm-3 at a breakdown of 720 Vμm-1, with a dielectric constant of 2.5 and a dielectric loss as low as 0.01%. As a consequence of BOPP's low dielectric constant, much research has been focused on replacement materials with increased dielectric constant and thermal stability >100oC while maintaining dielectric loss, energy density and breakdown exhibited by BOPP. Herein we present the rational design, synthesis and characterization of an organometallic polymer, poly(dimethytin glutarate). Density functional theory (DFT) is applied to model the polymer's theoretical dielectric constant (ε = 6.04), band gap (Eg = 6.14 eV) , stable crystal structure and IR spectrum. Comparison of the computed values and spectra to the experimental measurements of poly(dimethyltin glutarate) show a direct correlation. The measured dielectric constant was ε = 7.39 with an Eg = 4.88 eV while the IR and XRD spectra confirm the presence of the four most stable crystal structures in varying proportion dependent upon processing conditions. This work demonstrates the first organometallic polymer as a high dielectric material for energy storage.

Publication Title

Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society

Volume

247

Issue

333-poly

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