Enhanced Dielectric Properties of Recycled PLA/BaTiO3 Nanocomposites: Towards Sustainable Capacitor Applications

Recycled polylactic acid (R-PLA)/BaTiO3 nanocomposite films were successfully prepared using solution blending and hot-pressing methods. The dielectric properties of the R-PLA nanocomposites with different volume fractions of BaTiO3 nanoparticles (nBT) were investigated using dielectric spectroscopy and compared to fresh commercial polylactic acid (C-PLA) nanocomposites. R-PLA nanocomposites exhibited promising dielectric properties with high permittivity and low loss tangent, comparable to those of C-PLA nanocomposites. At 1 kHz, both pure C-PLA and R-PLA exhibited a consistent permittivity value of 4. Additionally, they demonstrated promising permittivity values of 10 when filled with nBT at a volume fraction (fnBT) of 0.20. Interestingly, at 1 kHz, the R-PLA nanocomposite exhibited a lower loss tangent (0.009) compared to the C-PLA (0.013), indicating its potential for improved dielectric performance in capacitor applications and highlighting the viability of plastic waste derived from recycled PLA as a promising alternative in the dielectric fields.