Fundamental approach to the storage of energy in dielectrics

The classic approach to the storage of energy in dielectrics and their degradation does not consider the fact that charge injection and charge trapping always occur in capacitors subjected to high electric fields. In fact, when a charge is trapped in an insulating material and localized at an atomic scale, a quasi static polarization is induced, producing a local increase of the internal energy of the order of 5 to 10 eV. This change of the internal energy affects all the thermal properties of the material. Under certain circumstances this energy reaches a level so high that it constitutes a reservoir of energy sufficient to produce irreversible damage of the material when it is released after charges are detrapped.