The Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) has created a new turning point for the high-voltage power industry by developing a technology that dramatically improves the performance of eco-friendly insulation materials for power equipment.

Dr. Seung-Gun Yoo's team at the KERI Insulating Materials Research Center has unveiled a technology that overcomes the structural limitations of existing insulating material polypropylene and achieves stable performance even in high-voltage environments.

Polypropylene has been widely used in various power devices, such as power cables, due to its ease of recycling and excellent insulation properties.

On the other hand, further enhancing the insulation properties of materials that already possess high performance has been considered a difficult challenge in the industry.

With the rapid increase in voltage of power equipment recently demanding much higher insulation performance than before, this research achievement is attracting attention from the industrial sector.

A research team at KERI developed a technology to effectively combine a voltage stabilizer with polypropylene based on a dry process that does not use toxic solvents.

In particular, by utilizing the melting method widely used in industrial settings, the stabilizer is uniformly distributed throughout the material.The key is that it induced them to include it.

The research team selected the optimal molecule capable of chemically bonding with polypropylene through simulation and mixed it like dough in a molten state to secure stable insulation properties that prevent charge shifting to one side even at high voltages.

Dr. Yoo Seung-geon explained, “There have been previous attempts to mix polypropylene with voltage stabilizers, but commercialization was difficult due to complex organic solvent-based processes. It is highly significant that we have developed a high-performance insulation material that companies can immediately utilize through an eco-friendly, one-step process familiar to the industry.”

This research was enhanced through collaboration between internal departments at KERI as well as international joint research with Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan.

High-voltage performance evaluation was conducted by Dr. Ik-Su Kwon's team and Professor Masahiro Kozako's team at the KERI Power Cable Research Center, and physical phenomenon analysis was performed by Dr. Min-Hee Kim at the KERI Eco-friendly Power Equipment Research Center.

The research team anticipates that this technology will significantly improve the performance and reliability of high-power devices across the board, including HVDC power cables, electric vehicles, energy storage systems (ESS), and data centers. Furthermore, they plan to utilize AI-based molecular design technology to identify additional voltage stabilizer candidates and further enhance insulation performance.

This achievement has been recognized for its academic excellence by being published in 'Advanced Functional Materials,' a top-tier international journal in the field of materials engineering. Notably, this marks the first time a Korean study on high-voltage insulating materials has been published in the journal, further enhancing the technical and academic value of the research.