Design of a structural power composite using graphene oxide as a dielectric material layer

Abstract This paper aims at introducing a new type of multifunctional polymer-based composites, which partially act as a primary structural component as well as an energy storage device, potentially for any flying object, like unmanned air vehicles (UAV), and automotive applications. In this study, it was found that a continuous carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composite (CFRP) inserted with a layer of graphene oxide (GO) paper, which is 4 μm in thickness, exhibited a better capacitance (17.13 μF/m2) as compared with the one fabricated by using a layer of regular printing paper with the thickness of 0.1 mm as a dielectric separator (2.18 μF/m2). The printing specimens were used in this study because of their highest specific capacitance reported in the previous studies. Through the experiments, it is evident that the GO paper is an excellent candidate as dielectric separator for structural dielectric capacitors as well as demonstrates its potential for the development of multifunctional energy storage device embedded in a carbon-based structure.