The effect of loading ratios and electric field on charge dynamics in silica-based polyethylene nanocomposites

Abstract

Nanodielectrics have been expected to improve the electrical performance and considered as dielectrics for the future. It has been recognized that the electrical performance is close related to charge dynamics in the dielectrics material. However, the mechanism of charge dynamics in the interphase of nanodielectrics has not been fully understood, which cause the difficulty in understanding the effect of nanoparticle loading ratios and electric fields applied on the electrical properties. Recently, a model based on the tunneling process with the presence of deep traps has been suggested as one of the conceivable candidates for explaining charge dynamics in nanodielectrics, but the related experiment results are not discussed with tunnelling process. In this paper, the measurements including isothermal surface potential decay and space charge are conducted for the blend polyethylene incorporated with the untreated silica nanocomposites. According to the experimental observation compared with the unfilled blend polyethylene, the electrical properties of nanocomposites with high loading ratios of 2 wt%, 5 wt% and 10 wt% are worsened such as facilitated space charge accumulation and injection, and faster charge carriers transport. On the other hand, regarding the nanocomposites with the low loading ratios of 0.5 wt%, it was observed that slow transport of charge carriers, and suppressed space charge accumulation and injection. The effect of the lower and higher electric field on the electrical properties of the nanocomposites was similar for the low and high loading ratios. The tunnelling process associated with deep traps can effectively explain these observed phenomena of nanocomposites, it is therefore suggested for further explaining the electrical properties and charge dynamics in the nanodielectrics.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Zhiqiang Xu: orcid.org/0000-0002-6640-7335

ORCID for Alun Vaughan: orcid.org/0000-0002-0535-513X

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