Rational Design and Synthesis of High-Energy-Density Dielectric Polymers For Navy High-Temperature Capacitor Applications

Polymer dielectrics are preferred energy materials for many power electronics, power conditioning, and pulsed power applications because of their scalability, lightweight, high breakdown strengths and great reliability. However, polymer dielectrics are limited torelatively low working temperatures. The current dielectric polymers fall significantly short of meeting all the specifications forhigh-temperature capacitive energy storage applications. Fundamentally, there is a lack of systematic studies of the structural dependence of the high-field electrical and dielectric properties and the capacitive performance of high-temperature dielectric polymers. The structure-dependent graceful failure mechanism of high-temperature polymer dielectrics remains unknown. This proposal aims to develop novel high-energy-density high-efficiency dielectric polymers with operating temperatures greater than or equal to 150 oC for Navy pulsed power and energy storage applications. The proposed approaches include 1) incorporating high-electron-affinity monomers into the high-glass-transition-temperature dielectric copolymers, and 2) utilizing unique self-assembly ability of ladderphane-structured polymers to endow dielectric polymers with high through-plane thermal conductivity. If successful, the proposed research effort will yield completely new structures of scalable self-healing dielectric polymers that can operate efficiently at high temperatures and significantly outperform the state-of-the-art. In addition, the proposed effort will enhance our fundamental understandings of the structure dependent loss mechanisms and graceful failure mechanism of dielectric polymers at high electric fields and elevated temperatures. The structural dependence of the high-field electrical and dielectric properties and the capacitive performance of high-temperature dielectric polymers will be developed in the proposed program. This work will provide new insight in the relationship of polymer structure - high-temperature capacitive performance and establish a completely new platform for designing high-performance dielectric polymers for high-temperature high-energy-density film capacitors. The successful development of scalable high-temperature high-energy-density dielectric polymers would address the Navy's future pulsed power, power conditioning, and energy storage needs and meet ever-rising demands for electricity under often-extreme environmental conditions present in many other DoD applications. Approved for Public Release