Effect of clay on TiO2 embedded PMMA nanocomposite for high-performance energy storage application

Present work deals with the dielectric and electrochemical properties of PMMA/TiO2 and PMMA/TiO2@Clay nanocomposite prepared via a simple sol-gel method followed by ultrasonication. With pore diameters of 16.657 Å, ternary nanocomposites have an increased specific surface area of 28.88 m2/g. The significant dielectric properties are observed for PMMA/TiO2 and PMMA/TiO2@Clay nanocomposite with the highest dielectric constant ε′ of 3.66 × 103 and 1.45 × 103 and maximum dielectric loss ε″ of 1.7 and 1.9 at 1 kHz respectively. The PMMA/TiO2 nanocomposite exhibits the highest σac conductivity of 1.29 × 10−4 S/m and 6.85 × 10−2 S/m, whereas; the PMMA/TiO2@Clay nanocomposite demonstrates the highest σac conductivity of 1.47 × 10−4 S/m and 1.84 × 10−2 S/m at 1 kHz and 3 MHz, respectively. The manufactured device's highest specific capacitance is 364.13 F/g, which corresponds to an energy density of 129.26 Wh/kg and a power density of 2913.04 W/kg. Even after 5000 CV cycles, a 97 % capacitance retention is reported in the cyclic stability. The present work proves its virtue and competency towards superior energy storage applications. •PMMA/TiO2@Clay nanocomposite is prepared by sol-gel technique.•Nano TiO2 enhances the dielectric and electrochemical properties.•Surface area increases from binary to ternary nanocomposites.•Thermal stability is improved due to clay lamination.•Low loss, high permittivity and enhanced specific capacitance are achieved.