Highly elastic relaxor ferroelectric via peroxide crosslinking

Relaxor ferroelectrics are well-known for their high dielectric constants, low dielectric losses, and excellent electromechanical properties, making them valuable for various electronic devices. Despite recent efforts to enhance the durability of ferroelectrics through chemical cross-linking, achieving elasticity in relaxor ferroelectric materials remains a significant challenge. These materials inherently possess traits such as low crystallinity and small crystal size, while chemical crosslinking tends to diminish polymer crystallinity considerably. Thus, a key obstacle to making relaxor ferroelectric polymers elastic lies in safeguarding their crystalline regions from the effects of slight crosslinking. To tackle this issue, we selected P(VDF-CTFE-DB) with highly reactive C[double bond, length as m-dash]C double bonds as crosslinking sites, reducing the amount of cross-linking agents added and thereby lessening their impact on crystallinity. Through peroxide crosslinking, we transformed linear P(VDF-CTFE-DB) into a network structure, successfully producing a resilient relaxor ferroelectric material with maintained polarization intensity for ferroelectricity. Notably, this elastic relaxor ferroelectric was synthesized at relatively low temperatures, exhibiting a remarkable dielectric constant, superior resilience, fatigue resistance, and a stable ferroelectric response even under strains of up to 80%. Our approach paves the way for developing low-cost, high-dielectric-constant elastomers suitable for wearable electronics and related applications.