High-energy-density poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) thin films

The dielectric response of poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (PSAN) thin films fabricated by a solution casting process was investigated in this work. Linear dielectric behavior was obtained in PSAN films under an electric field at frequencies from 100 Hz to 1 MHz and temperature of -50 C to 100 C. The polymer films exhibited an intermediate dielectric permittivity of 4 and low dielectric loss (tan δ) of 0.027. Under 400 MV/m, the energy density of the PSAN films was 6.8 J/cm³, which is three times higher than that of biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) (about 1.6 J/cm³). However, their charge-discharge efficiency (about 90%) was rather close to that of BOPP. The calculated effective dielectric permittivity of the PSAN films under high electric field was as high as 9, which may be attributed to the improved displacement of the cyanide groups (-CN) polarized at high electric fields. These high-performance features make PSAN attractive for high-energy-density capacitor applications.