Relaxation processes and conduction behaviour in PVDF-TrFE and KNN-based composites

Polymer-ceramic composites have gained considerable attention in flexible electronic devices due to their uncommon features such as high dielectric constant, low conductivity, and good mechanical flexibility. The electrical and mechanical responses of various components (ceramic grain & grain boundary, polymer chains, and interface) need to be elucidated to rationally design high-performance polymer-ceramic composites. This paper provides a detailed analysis of dynamic mechanical and frequency-dependent dielectric behaviour with temperature to discern the various mechanisms responsible for the relaxations in the polyvinylidene fluoride-trifluoro ethylene/K 0·5 Na 0·5 NbO 3 –CaZn 1/3 Ta 2/3 O 3 (PVDF-TrFE/KNN-1CZT) composite fabricated using solution casting technique. The FTIR spectra and x-ray diffraction patterns indicate the existence of the polar β-phase, confirming the ferroelectric nature of polymer films. The ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition ( T C  ∼ 130 °C) of polymer film obtained from the DSC & DMA data was corroborated by the dielectric study. The introduction of ceramic fillers in polymer induces an additional relaxation in the 10 kHz to 1 MHz frequency range, owing to the ceramic-polymer interface formation, which is responsible for increment in the dielectric constant and storage capacity of the composites. The effective dielectric constant of the composite was modelled using the Maxwell-Garnet and Yamada models. The enhanced dielectric constant of composite films ( ε r  ∼ 28) with the addition of dielectric filler qualifies these materials for flexible high-performance capacitive devices. Further, this study enables a better understanding of the various relaxation processes in the composite with dielectric fillers.