GHz-THz Dielectric Properties of Flexible Matrix-Embedded BTO Nanoparticles

BaTiO₃ (BTO) nanoparticles produced by wet chemistry methods were embedded in several types of flexible materials in order to fabricate flexible electronic devices. Starting from the produced nanoparticle dielectric properties, flexible material dielectric properties were tested for high electromagnetic frequencies (30 GHz-2 THz) using time domain spectroscopy. Dielectric performances of the different materials obtained with variable nanoparticle concentrations up to 40 wt.%, embedded in, gelatin, epoxy, and styrene-butadiene were compared at several working temperatures between 0 °C and 120 °C. Beside the general trend of ε' decrease with temperature and loses increase with the operating frequency, we were able to identify few matrix dependent optimal nanoparticle concentrations. The best composite performances were achieved by the BTO-SBS matrix, with filler concentration of 2 wt.%, where the losses have been of 1.5%, followed by BTO-gelatin matrix, with filler concentration of 40 wt.%, with higher losses percent of almost 10% for THz frequencies.