Novel high voltage polymer insulators using computational and data-driven techniques

Abstract

One of the key bottlenecks in the development of high voltage electrical systems is the identification of suitable insulating materials capable of supporting high voltages. Under high voltage scenarios, conventional polymer based insulators, which are one of the popular choices of insulators, suffer from the drawback of space charge accumulation, which leads to degradation in desirable electronic properties and facilitates dielectric breakdown. In this work, we aid the development of novel polymers for high voltage insulation applications by enabling the rapid prediction of properties that are correlated with dielectric breakdown, i.e.,the bandgap (Egap) of the polymer and electron injection barrier (Φe) at the electrode–insulator interface. To accomplish this, density functional theory based methods are used to develop large, chemically diverse datasets of Φe and Egap. The deviation of the computed properties from experimental observations is addressed using a statistical technique called Bayesian calibration. Furthermore, to enable rapid estimation of these properties for a large set of polymers, machine learning models are developed using the created dataset. These models are further used to predict Egap and Φe for a set of 13k previously known polymers. Polymers with high values of these properties are selected as potential high voltage insulators and are recommended for synthesis. Finally, the models developed here are deployed at www.polymergenome.org to enable the community use.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
May 04, 2021
Source ID
10.1063/5.0044306

Entities

People

  • Chiho Kim
  • Deepak Kamal
  • Lihua Chen
  • Rampi Ramprasad
  • Tran Doan Huan
  • V. Roshan Joseph
  • Yang Cao
  • Yifei Wang

Organizations

  • Georgia Tech
  • Toyota Research Institute
  • University of Connecticut

Tags

Readers

  • Neural Network Machine Learning.
  • Plasma Physics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Bayesian Inference
  • Microelectronics
  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster