Effective Strategies for Enhancing the Energy Storage Performance of Polymer-Based Composites

Polymer-based dielectric composites show great potential prospects for applications in energy storage because of the specialty of simultaneously possessing the advantages of fillers and polymer matrices. However, polymer-based composites still have some urgent issues that need to be solved, such as lower breakdown field strength (E_b) than polymers, dielectric mismatch, and the poor interface between the matrix and the filler. Hence, this review provides a systematic summary of recent research advances in improving the energy storage properties of polymer-based composites from several aspects, mainly including polymer matrix types, optimization of filler shapes, surface modification of fillers, and design of multi-layer composite structures. Finally, some existing challenges and future perspectives are outlined and discussed to facilitate the further development of polymer-based composites in the energy storage field. We believe this review will help researchers better understand the current development status of polymer-based composites in the energy storage field, and push it forward to a new research stage.