Measuring the Permittivity of Ferroelectric Nanoparticles in an Injection Molded Epoxy Composite

Sandia National Laboratories Engineering, 2018-19

Liaison(s): Dr. Todd Monson
Advisor(s): Albert Dato
Students(s): Deji Andrew, Evie Antholis (F), Colter Downing (TL-S), Kai Fuzakawa (FE), Ali Khan (TL-F), Benjamin Lehman, Shruthi Sukir (S), Meenakshi Ventrakaman (F)

Barium titanate (BTO) is a ferroelectric material commonly used in capacitors because of its high bulk dielectric constant, which may be even higher in nanoparticle form. We are determining the dielectric constant of BTO nanoparticles as a function of particle size by measuring composites of BTO nanoparticles in epoxy. We’re using ball-milling alongside surfactants to reduce nanoparticle agglomeration and using finite element analysis to extract the dielectric constant of the nanoparticles.