Macromolecules, Vol.51, No.16, 6257-6266, 2018
High Dielectric Constant Sulfonyl-Containing Dipolar Glass Polymers with Enhanced Orientational Polarization
Dipolar glass (DG) polymers, which utilize subTg orientational polarization (Tg is the glass transition temperature) to enhance dielectric constants, are promising candidates for use in advanced electronic and power applications because conduction of space charges (electrons and impurity ions) is suppressed in the glassy state, and thus, the dielectric loss is low. In this study, we studied the effects of dipole density and dipole arrangement in sulfonyl-containing side-chain DG polymers on their dielectric performance in terms of dielectric constant, energy density, and dielectric loss. Monosulfonyl (i.e., CH3SO2-) and disulfonyl [i.e., CH3SO2(CH2)3SO(2)(-)] groups were quantitatively grafted to polyepichlorohydrin (monosubstitution) and poly(3,3bis(chloromethyl)oxatane) (bis-substitution), respectively, in order to vary the dipole density and dipole arrangement in the side chains. As a result of orientation polarization from highly polar sulfonyl (4.5 D) groups, these DG polymers exhibited high apparent dielectric constants (7-11.5) in the glassy state with reasonably low dissipation factors (tan delta similar to 0.003-0.02). It was found that disulfonylated DG polymers exhibited a higher dielectric constant than monosulfonylated DG polymers because of their higher dipole densities. Meanwhile, bis-substituted DG polymers showed a higher dielectric constant than monosubstituted DG polymers. Upon high-field electric poling, reversible transitions between the low-field DG state and the high-field ferroelectric state induced double hysteresis loops, and disulfonylated DG polymers had more significant ferroelectric switching than monosulfonylated DG polymers due to stronger dipolar interactions among the disulfonyl groups. On the basis of the experimental results, monosulfonylated DG polymers, whether mono- or bis-substituted, should be more appropriate for electric energy storage applications.