Polymer-ceramic nanocomposite piezoelectric and dielectric films are of interest because of their possible application to advanced embedded energy storage devices for printed wired electrical boards. The incompatibility of the two constituent materials; hydrophilic ceramic filler, and hydrophobic epoxy limit the filler concentration, and thus, their piezoelectric properties. This work aims to understand the role of surfactant concentration in establishing meaningful interfacial layers between the epoxy and ceramic filler particles by observing particle surface morphology, piezoelectric strain coefficients, and resistivity spectra. A comprehensive study of nanocomposites, comprising non-treated and surface treated barium titanate (BTO), embedded within an epoxy matrix, was performed. The surface treatments were performed with two types of coupling agents: Ethanol and 3-glycidyloxypropyltrimethoxysilan. The observations of particle agglomeration, piezoelectric strain coefficients, and resistivity were compared, where the most ideal properties were found for concentrations of 0.02 and 0.025. This work demonstrates that the interfacial core-shell processing layer concentration influences the macroscopic properties of nanocomposites, and the opportunities for tuning interfacial layers for desirable characteristics of specific applications.
Keywords: composite; core-shell processing; piezoelectric; surface treatment.