1D/2D Carbon Nanomaterial‐Polymer Dielectric Composites with High Permittivity for Power Energy Storage Applications

TLDR

High‑k polymer nanocomposites are pursued for flexible electronics and large‑scale energy storage, with percolation effects enabling excellent flexibility at low filler loadings, and 1D carbon nanotubes and 2D graphene nanosheets offering promising high‑permittivity performance due to their unique properties. The review aims to assess progress in using 1D/2D carbon nanomaterials as polymer fillers, focusing on methods and mechanisms that improve dielectric properties, breakdown strength, and energy storage density while addressing dispersion and conductive‑network issues. Strategies such as achieving uniform dispersion of carbon nanomaterials and suppressing conductive network formation are examined to enhance dielectric performance, breakdown strength, and energy storage density in polymer composites. Recent findings, current challenges, and future perspectives for 1D/2D carbon nanomaterial‑based dielectric composites are summarized.

Abstract

With the development of flexible electronic devices and large‐scale energy storage technologies, functional polymer‐matrix nanocomposites with high permittivity (high‐k) are attracting more attention due to their ease of processing, flexibility, and low cost. The percolation effect is often used to explain the high‐k characteristic of polymer composites when the conducting functional fillers are dispersed into polymers, which gives the polymer composite excellent flexibility due to the very low loading of fillers. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanosheets (GNs), as one‐dimensional (1D) and two‐dimensional (2D) carbon nanomaterials respectively, have great potential for realizing flexible high‐k dielectric nanocomposites. They are becoming more attractive for many fields, owing to their unique and excellent advantages. The progress in dielectric fields by using 1D/2D carbon nanomaterials as functional fillers in polymer composites is introduced, and the methods and mechanisms for improving dielectric properties, breakdown strength and energy storage density of their dielectric nanocomposites are examined. Achieving a uniform dispersion state of carbon nanomaterials and preventing the development of conductive networks in their polymer composites are the two main issues that still need to be solved in dielectric fields for power energy storage. Recent findings, current problems, and future perspectives are summarized.