Complex materials from precursors to applications

Dielectrics are insulators that respond to an applied electric field by creating a charge separation in the material. The strength of the dielectric response is quantified by the dielectric constant, or permittivity. The charge separation in the applied field can be used as a form of energy storage in capacitors, or to externally modulate the number of charge carriers passing through the channel of a field-effect transistor. The discovery and massive improvement of such devices has enabled the technological revolution of the past 60 years. Nowadays, millions of transistors are assembled on each square mm in a computer chip, requiring dielectrics that can establish strong field response with low leakage currents. High-permittivity (high-k) dielectrics are also used in modern dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) capacitors, and show significant promise as solid materials for energy storage in fuel-cell vehicles. One issue with the use of high-k dielectrics in ultra-capacitors for fuel-cell vehicles is that the energy densities achieved with standard metal-oxide materials is not competitive against liquid state electrochemical ultra-capacitors. The discovery of higher-k materials for competitive solid-state ultra-capacitors would offer significant improvements of lifetime and recyclability over present liquid state systems.

Faculty Supervisor:

Irina Paci

Student:

Partner:

Seastar Chemicals Inc

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Victoria

Program: