Polymer Grafted Aluminum Nanoparticles for Percolative Composite Films with Enhanced Compatibility

Aluminum nanoparticles hold promise for highly energetic materials and sustainable surface plasmonic materials. Most of the commercial Al nanoparticles are prepared via a high-throughput electrical explosion of wires method (up to 200 g h(−1)). However, the use of Al nanoparticles produced by an electrical explosion of wires is limited by their micrometer-sized aggregations and poor stability. Here, we use polystyrene with –COOH end-group to graft onto isolated Al nanoparticles and dramatically enhance their colloidal stability in various organic solvents. We further demonstrate that the polystyrene grafted Al nanoparticles can be doped into polystyrene films with high compatibility, leading to enhanced dielectric properties, such as higher dielectric constant, lower dielectric loss, and stronger breakdown strength. Moreover, the composite film can improve the moisture resistance of embedded Al nanoparticles.