Integration of Hydrated Antimony Pentoxide in Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Films for Enhanced Energy Storage and Harvesting

We delineate the synthesis and characterization of a nanocomposite film with a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) polymer matrix and hydrated antimony pentoxide (HAP) as the conducting filler. The Sb 2 O 3 powder was hydroxylated to enhance its proton conductivity and reactivity as a filler in a PVDF matrix because after hydroxylation Sb 2 O 3 converts into HAP having H 3 O + and H + . The formation of proton-conducting HAP was confirmed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The nanocomposite films were synthesized through a solution-casting process and characterized using XRD, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy analysis. The dielectric permittivity of the nanocomposite film with an 8% filler loading was found to be 27.86, which is significantly higher than that of pure PVDF (9.56). The polarization of the nanocomposite film was also increased to 2.91 μC/cm 2 with an 8% filler loading compared to 1.11 μC/cm 2 for pure PVDF. The breakdown strength of the developed films was calculated using Weibull analysis. The energy density of the developed nanocomposite film was found to be 1.59 J/cm 3 at an electric field of 1400 kV/cm, which is significantly enhanced compared to 0.66 J/cm 3 for pure PVDF. The piezoelectric response of the polymer nanocomposite film is also improved with the increasing filler concentration. These results demonstrate the potential of the developed nanocomposite films as high-energy-density storage materials for capacitors.