COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Identifying the Dielectric Properties of Liquid-Metal Polymer Composites to Ensure the Dielectric Integrity of Deformable Electronic Applications

合作研究：确定液态金属聚合物复合材料的介电性能，以确保可变形电子应用的介电完整性

• 批准号: 2124877
• 负责人: Amanda Koh
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2124877&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Identifying; Dielectric; Properties

Nontechnical SummaryBioelectronics and soft robotics require electronic materials that function while being stretched or compressed. Composites of soft polymers with metals that are liquid at, or near, room temperature, have recently gained extensive attention from the scientific community for such applications. They have shown impressive performance as stretchable electronic components and for physiological sensors. Prior research has focused on expanding the promise of these composite materials, but relatively little has been done to understand their electrical aging and failure mechanisms. The lack of knowledge could lead to premature failure and may put future technologies utilizing liquid metal polymer composites at risk. This project combines experimental analysis and numerical modeling to identify the key characteristics that lead to the unique electrical performance and breakdown of liquid metal polymer composites. With the understanding established through this project, future soft electronic technologies can be developed with application-specific performance and long-term durability in mind. The novel findings of this project will be utilized to promote underrepresented minority student intertest in STEM. Building on the existing relationship with the Girl Scouts and by taking advantage of the world-class high-voltage lab, a series of polymer, capacitor, and high voltage-related experiments will be designed for young women and K-12 students. Furthermore, short courses on high-voltage engineering and dielectrics with use cases on deformable dielectrics will be delivered at community colleges to promote university recruitment in Alabama and Mississippi. This project is jointly funded by the Electronic and Photonic Materials (EPM) program of the Division of Materials Research (DMR), the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Metals and Metallic Nanostructures (MMN) program of DMR. Technical SummaryLiquid metal polymer composites (LMPCs) have shown impressive performance by simultaneously providing high dielectric permittivity and low modulus. While previous research has demonstrated that the composite formulation can be tuned to address the specific needs of soft capacitor and tensile or pressure sensors, little work has focused on the long-term effects of using LMPCs as dielectrics. Specifically, the dielectric aging and failure mechanisms of LMPCs that vary by application-specific electrical stresses are currently unknown. The goal of this project is taking an integrated experimental and modeling approach to develop a first principles understanding of the key parameters governing the dielectric performance and aging mechanism of LMPCs. The team will investigate the effects of droplet shape, size, loading, composition, mechanical loading, and voltage stress type on the permittivity, dissipation factor, partial discharge inception voltage, and dielectric strength of LMPCs. A finite element analysis simulation environment will be used to model trends in permittivity and variation of the dielectric strength. The outcomes of this project will enable future deformable technologies that take advantage of LMPCs to not only tailor formulations to a specific application, but also maximize device lifetime and dielectric integrity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

非技术摘要生物电子学和软机器人需要能够在拉伸或压缩时发挥作用的电子材料。软聚合物与在室温或接近室温下呈液态的金属复合材料最近在此类应用中引起了科学界的广泛关注。它们作为可拉伸电子元件和生理传感器表现出了令人印象深刻的性能。先前的研究主要集中在扩大这些复合材料的前景，但在了解其电老化和失效机制方面做得相对较少。缺乏知识可能会导致过早失效，并可能使未来使用液态金属聚合物复合材料的技术面临风险。该项目结合了实验分析和数值建模，以确定导致液态金属聚合物复合材料独特的电气性能和击穿的关键特征。根据通过该项目建立的理解，未来的软电子技术可以在开发时考虑到特定应用的性能和长期耐用性。该项目的新颖发现将用于促进少数族裔学生对 STEM 的兴趣。基于与女童子军的现有关系，并利用世界一流的高压实验室，将为年轻女性和 K-12 学生设计一系列聚合物、电容器和高压相关实验。此外，社区学院将提供有关高压工程和电介质的短期课程以及可变形电介质的使用案例，以促进阿拉巴马州和密西西比州的大学招生。该项目由材料研究部（DMR）电子和光子材料（EPM）项目、刺激竞争性研究既定项目（EPSCoR）以及DMR金属和金属纳米结构（MMN）项目联合资助。技术摘要液态金属聚合物复合材料（LMPC）同时提供高介电常数和低模量，表现出令人印象深刻的性能。虽然之前的研究表明，可以调整复合材料配方来满足软电容器和拉伸或压力传感器的特定需求，但很少有工作关注使用 LMPC 作为电介质的长期影响。具体来说，LMPC 的介电老化和失效机制因特定应用的电应力而异，目前尚不清楚。该项目的目标是采用综合实验和建模方法，对控制 LMPC 介电性能和老化机制的关键参数有一个基本原理的理解。该团队将研究液滴形状、尺寸、负载、成分、机​​械负载和电压应力类型对 LMPC 的介电常数、耗散因数、局部放电起始电压和介电强度的影响。有限元分析模拟环境将用于模拟介电常数和介电强度变化的趋势。该项目的成果将使未来利用 LMPC 的变形技术不仅能够根据特定应用定制配方，还能最大限度地提高器件寿命和介电完整性。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Effects of Droplet Size and Dispersion Homogeneity on the Dielectric Integrity of Liquid Metal Polymer Composites

• DOI: 10.1109/eic55835.2023.10177339
• 发表时间: 2023-06
• 期刊: 2023 IEEE Electrical Insulation Conference (EIC)
• 作者: Robert E. Calabrese;Elizabeth Bury;R. Green;Amanda S. Koh;Chan-Joo Park

Effects of filler composition, loading, and geometry on the dielectric loss, partial discharge, and dielectric strength of liquid metal polymer composites

• DOI: 10.1016/j.compositesb.2022.109686
• 发表时间: 2022-02-01
• 期刊: COMPOSITES PART B-ENGINEERING
• 影响因子: 13.1
• 作者: Calabrese, Robert E.;Bury, Elizabeth;Park, Chanyeop
• 通讯作者: Park, Chanyeop

Effect of Particle Geometry on Electric Field Distribution, Partial Discharge, and Dielectric Strength of Iron-Polymer Composites

颗粒几何形状对铁聚合物复合材料电场分布、局部放电和介电强度的影响

• DOI: 10.1109/eic51169.2022.9833170
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Electrical Insulation Conference (EIC
• 作者: Calabrese, Robert E.;Bury, Elizabeth;Koh, Amanda;Park, Chanyeop
• 通讯作者: Park, Chanyeop

Multimodal Deformation of Liquid Metal Multimaterial Composites as Stretchable, Dielectric Materials for Capacitive Pressure Sensing

• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c21734
• 发表时间: 2022-03-23
• 期刊: ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
• 影响因子: 9.5
• 作者: Bury, Elizabeth;Koh, Amanda S.
• 通讯作者: Koh, Amanda S.