Self-poled piezoelectric polymer composites via melt-state energy implantation
Zhao-Xia Huang1, Lan-Wei Li2, Yun-Zhi Huang2
1National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing, Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular Advanced Manufacturing, Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, 510641, Guangzhou, China. mehuangzx@scut.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Lightweight flexible piezoelectric polymers are demanded for various applications. However, the low instinctively piezoelectric coefficient (i.e. d33) and complex poling process greatly resist their applications. Herein, we show that introducing dynamic pressure during fabrication is capable for poling polyvinylidene difluoride/barium titanate (PVDF/BTO) composites with d33 of ~51.20 pC/N at low density of ~0.64 g/cm3. The melt-state dynamic pressure driven energy implantation induces structure evolutions of both PVDF and BTO are demonstrated as reasons for self-poling. Then, the porous material is employed as pressure sensor with a high output of ~20.0 V and sensitivity of ~132.87 mV/kPa. Besides, the energy harvesting experiment suggests power density of ~58.7 mW/m2 can be achieved for 10 N pressure with a long-term durability. In summary, we not only provide a high performance lightweight, flexible piezoelectric polymer composite towards sustainable self-powered sensing and energy harvesting, but also pave an avenue for electrical-free fabrication of piezoelectric polymers.
