Silicone elastomers with aromatic voltage stabilizers

A method to synthesise a polydimethylsiloxane-polyphenylmethylsiloxane (PDMS-PPMS) copolymer with electron-trapping effects has been developed utilising a quickhydrosilylation reaction at ambient temperature and crosslinking via hydrosilylation by a vinyl-functional crosslinker. The mechanism of electron-trapping by aromatic compounds grafted to silicone backbones in a crosslinked PDMS is illustrated in Fig. 1. The electrical breakdown strength, the storage modulus and the loss modulus of the elastomer were investigated, as well as the excitation energy from the collision between electron carriers and benzene rings in PDMS-PPMS copolymer was measured by UV-vis spectroscopy. The developed elastomers were inherently soft with enhanced electrical breakdown strength due to delocalized pi-electrons of aromatic rings attached to the silicone backbone. The dielectric relative permittivity of PDMS-PPMS copolymers remained between 2 to 3 with low conductivity and low dielectric loss as well as high storage moduli with low viscous loss, thereby maintaining the electro-mechanical integrity of the elastomer.