Dielectric and interfacial properties investigation of poly(acrylonitrile‐co‐2,2,2‐trifluoroethyl methacrylate) copolymer/organomodified beidellite clay nanocomposites

Abstract The dielectric properties of fluorinated cyano copolymer poly(acrylonitrile‐co‐2,2,2‐Trifluoroethyl methacrylate) (poly[AN‐co‐MATRIF]), reinforced with a natural Moroccan beidellite nanoclay organomodified with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide were studied. The effect of varying nanofillers loadings (1 wt%, 2 wt%, 3 wt%, and 5 wt%) on the molecular dynamics was investigated using broadband dielectric spectroscopy from 10⁻¹ to 10⁶ Hz and temperatures ranging between 30°C to 100°C. For the copolymer matrix, the real (ε^′) and imaginary parts (ε^′′) of the dielectric permittivity curves revealed three dielectric processes: the secondary β, the primary α and an ionic conduction phenomenon. Furthermore, incorporating of organomodified nanoclay, generated an additional relaxation process known as the Maxwell‐Wagner‐Sillars (MWS) interfacial polarization. The interface properties were investigated through the calculation of the strength parameters ∆ε_MWS using the WinFit impedance analysis software. At the range of 3 wt% of load, the orientation of the dipolar groups is reduced, caused by the high interaction and the strong adhesion involving the poly(AN‐co‐MATRIF) matrix and beidellite nanoclay. The part of nanoinclusions participating in the particle‐polymer interaction is increased, forming a rigid polymer/clay interfaces. The evaluated parameters confirm that a weight ratio of 3% of organomodified nanoclay is recommended to obtain a most performing nanocomposite that can serve in several applications such as fuel cells, lithium ion batteries, and photovoltaics.