Lewis Acid‐Activated Charge Trapping in Dielectric Polymers for Superior High‐Temperature Electrostatic Energy Storage
Dielectric polymer capacitors are essential for electrostatic energy storage but suffer from charge transport-induced energy losses, particularly at elevated temperatures where thermally activated charge carriers exacerbate conduction. Conventional mitigation strategies rely on introducing heterogeneous interfaces to create charge traps, complicating scalable film fabrication. A homogeneous molecular trapping mechanism would circumvent these complexities, yet remains underexplored. Herein, a charge trapping strategy is devised by modifying the lowest occupied molecular orbitals of dielectric polymers through Lewis acid-base adduct formation. The use of tris(pentafluorophenyl)boron (BCF) as a Lewis acidic molecular additive introduces deeper charge traps in commercial polyetherimide (PEI) while retaining homogeneity. With only 0.5 wt.% loading, the PEI-BCF film exhibits greatly improved breakdown strength, achieving an ultrahigh discharged energy density of 7.3 J cm<sup>-3</sup> with excellent cycle stability at 200 °C. This work establishes a facile molecular approach to decoupling charge trapping from heterogeneous interfaces, enabling high-energy-density polymer capacitors operable under extreme thermal conditions.
Authors
- Zongren Peng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4344-3701)
- Meng Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0339-9112)
- Tiffany Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2054-2758)
- Sha Lai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2346-4433)
- Ting Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2831-2095)
- Steve W. Shelton
- Liana M. Klivansky
- Hongwei Gu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9962-4662)
- Xi Pang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6778-6242)
- Fan Lü (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4932-3850)
- Xi Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5466-8140)
- Tao Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3826-8179)
- Zongliang Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5965-332X)
- Ashlin Deatherage (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2573-6201)
- He Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4076-7279)
- Yi Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3954-6102)
- Peng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0509-2552)
- Jian Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3373-9621)
- Yalin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8624-7463)
- Qingsong Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7893-2447)
- Zhiyuan Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6807-5848)
- Yi Yin
Institutions
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- Nanyang Technological University (SG)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2025-11-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202517934
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Dielectric materials and actuators
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.67
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Office of Science
- Basic Energy Sciences