Effect of POSS as compatibilizing agent on structure and dielectric response of LDPE/TiO2 nanocomposites

Abstract

Two types of nanocomposites were prepared. The first type was prepared by ball milling-blending of untreated titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles into low density polyethylene (LDPE). For the second type, a commercial chemically treated TiO2 with trisilanol phenyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (TSP-POSS) as dispersant was ball milling-blended into LDPE. In this paper, titanium dioxide was selected as a model to show the effect of POSS on dispersion improvement of metal oxides nanoparticles and to understand the correlation between structure and dielectric response of LDPE/TiO2 nanocomposites. The microscopic observation by AFM showed that the TiO2 treated with the POSS were better dispersed in the polymer matrix as compared to untreated TiO2. Furthermore, the dielectric loss for the nanocomposites filled with treated TiO2 was significantly lower than that for nanocomposites filled with untreated TiO2 nanoparticles.