Well-coordinated dielectric properties in polymer composites bearing hybrid ceramic via interfacial effect between Ti2C MXene particles and large-aspect-ratio ZrO2 fibers

Abstract Ultrahigh dielectric constant is obtained in polymer/MXene composites due to percolation. However, huge dielectric loss is triggered owing to high leakage current. In this work, hybrid filler consisting of Ti2C MXene and ZrO2 was prepared for coordinating high dielectric constant and low dielectric loss in composites. Instead of Ti2C percolation, Ti2C/ZrO2 interface effect mildly increased dielectric constant. Ultrahigh insulation and large aspect ratio of ZrO2 fibers significantly reduced dielectric loss. Binary polymer/Ti2C and ternary polymer/Ti2C-ZrO2 composites were fabricated, and better overall electric traits in ternary system were found. Ti2C/ZrO2 interface effect was studied using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Ternary composite with 12 wt% filler exhibited high dielectric constant of ~40, low dielectric loss of ~0.09 at 100 Hz and high breakdown strength of ~155 MV m−1. This work might impulse fabrication of MXene-based hybrid fillers for dielectrics.