Multifunctional ternary composites with silver nanowires and titanium dioxide nanoparticles for capacitive sensing and photocatalytic self-cleaning applications

Abstract

Multifunctional polymer composites are of increasing interest as they allow tuning of physical–chemical properties for specific applications. A ternary composite material is presented based on the incorporation of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles and conductive silver nanowires (AgNWs) into a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) polymer matrix. The films were prepared by solvent casting, varying the contents of the filler up to 10 wt %, and showed improved mechanical and dielectric responses and tailorable optical properties. In contrast, the morphology, polymer phase, and thermal stability are nearly independent of the filler type and content within the composite. A dielectric constant of up to 14 at 1 kHz was obtained for the 7.5%AgNWs/2.5%TiO2/PVDF sample. The (multi)functionality of the developed materials is demonstrated for photocatalytic self-cleaning and capacitive sensing applications, indicating the suitability of the approach for next-generation hybrid multifunctional materials.