Charge storage of compact and fibrous blends based on polyphenylene ether

The charge storage behavior is a fundamental property of polymers used in electromechanical-transducer applications. Polymer blends can potentially show a higher charge storage capability than the neat constituents, since the phase boundaries between the individual components can act as trapping sites. In this work, the charge storage behavior of polyphenylene ether (PPE) is enhanced by the addition of selected amounts of polystyrene (PS) and poly(styrene-isobutylene-styrene) (SIBS). While the binary blends PPE/PS are miscible and are expected to form one homogeneous phase, the ternary blends PPE/PS/SIBS are multiphasic. The blend charge storage behavior was related to the macro- and micro- morphology as well as to the charging method.