Abstract
A facile surface hydroxylation treatment using hydrogen peroxide to modify the surface of BaTiO
3
nanofillers dispersed in a ferroelectric copolymer host has been investigated. We demonstrate that the surface functionalization of the BaTiO
3
nanofillers (<100 nm) with hydroxyl groups results in as much as two orders of magnitude reduction in the leakage current of nanocomposite thin-film capacitors. This reduction is observed concurrently with the enhancement of the effective permittivity and breakdown strength of the thin-film nanocomposites. Surface modified BaTiO
3
particles display better dispersion within the polymer matrix, resulting in enhanced relative permittivity and reduced dielectric loss. The dielectric behavior of the nanocomposite films containing up to 30 vol.% BaTiO
3
agreed well with the Bruggeman model. These results demonstrate the potential of facile surface hydroxylation of nanoparticles towards the fabrication of higher energy-density nanocomposites.
Surface hydroxylation of BaTiO
3
nanoparticles dispersed in P(VDF-TrFE) reduces leakage currents and improves dielectric breakdown strengths of the nanocomposite.