Polymer/molecular semiconductor all-organic composites for high-temperature dielectric energy storage.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32764558.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-17760-x and PMC identifier 7411043.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Dielectric polymers for electrostatic energy storage suffer from low energy density and poor efficiency at elevated temperatures, which constrains their use in the harsh-environment electronic devices, circuits, and systems. Although incorporating insulating, inorganic nanostructures into dielectric polymers promotes the temperature capability, scalable fabrication of high-quality nanocomposite films remains a formidable challenge. Here, we report an all-organic composite comprising dielectric polymers blended with high-electron-affinity molecular semiconductors that exhibits concurrent high energy density (3.0 J cm<sup>-3</sup>) and high discharge efficiency (90%) up to 200 °C, far outperforming the existing dielectric polymers and polymer nanocomposites. We demonstrate that molecular semiconductors immobilize free electrons via strong electrostatic attraction and impede electric charge injection and transport in dielectric polymers, which leads to the substantial performance improvements. The all-organic composites can be fabricated into large-area and high-quality films with uniform dielectric and capacitive performance, which is crucially important for their successful commercialization and practical application in high-temperature electronics and energy storage devices.