Anomalous behaviour of the dielectric spectroscopy response of nanocomposites

A study on the dielectric spectroscopy of epoxy-based nanocomposites filled with different types of particles, such as Al²O³, AlN, MgO, SiO₂ and BN, is presented. The surface of the nanoparticles was modified with a silane coupling agent, in order to make them compatible with the organic host and create a system with homogeneously dispersed filler material. Morphological characterizations of individual particles and fabricated composites were performed by means of transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The present research addresses an analysis of the complex permittivity. The relative permittivity of nanocomposites shows an unusual behaviour. Introduction of a low percentage of high permittivity filler results in a decrease of the permittivity of the bulk polymer material. We propose a qualitative explanation for the reduction of the relative permittivity, compared to the reference samples. The interface layer of surface modified particles plays a more important role than the nature of the particles themselves. The immobilization caused by the surface treatment of the nanoparticles seems to be the main factor determining the relative permittivity of the composites with fillgrade below 5 wt.%. The imaginary part of the complex permittivity, which represents the dielectric losses in the system, does not change significantly with addition of nanofiller up to 5 wt.%.