Short-term and long-term breakdown analysis of electroactive polymer with and without nanofillers

Electroactive polymers have drawn widespread interest in the electric engineering community primarily due to the large shape deformations that can be obtained under the application of an electric field. The energy storage for a linear dielectric elastomer is determined by its relative permittivity and the applied electric field (magnitude squared), and is maximized by operating the electroactive polymer at high electric fields and large stretches. In a previous study, it was shown that the relative permittivity of a silicone elastomer can be increased by adding titania nanoparticles without sacrificing the electrical characteristics such as the electrical conductivity and space charge dynamics. It was demonstrated that the threshold for space charge accumulation is about 20 kV/mm and the absence of deep traps in the titania-filler modified elastomer leads to fast space charge depletion. In the present work, the short-term and long-term breakdown characteristics of neat and nano-titania silicone elastomer films are discussed.