The Effect of Filler Material on the Interface Around a Nanoparticle in a Nanocomposite

In this work, the change in the dielectric constant and thickness of the interfacial region around a nanoparticle in a composite is studied as a function of change in the composition of the filler material. An electrostatic force microscopy (EFM)-based method previously proposed by the authors is used to examine the dependence of the interfacial parameters on the filler material. For this, two types of filler materials: barium titanate (BaTiO3) and alumina (Al2O3) are used with epoxy resin as a host material. A 3-D finite element method (FEM)-based model is used for the simulations. It is seen that change in filler material modifies the interface thickness and dielectric constant.