Phys.org  December 17, 2021 To create efficient energy storage solutions and actuators, engineers need materials with high dielectric constant. The current method of incorporating polar additives with a high dielectric constant has not yielded high enough dielectric constant for many applications. Researchers at Penn State University have demonstrated a new method for raising the dielectric constant by adding zwitterions, small molecules with one positive electrical charge and one negative electrical charge separated by covalent bonds. Zwitterions are non-volatile molecules that are highly polar. In their recent experiments, the team added the zwitterions to polymeric single-ion conductors. Zwitterions raised dielectric constant […]