Boosting of mechanical sensitivity of ZnO through imprinting on the chitosan/PVDF matrix for vibration sensor...

In this work, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), and chitosan have been employed to develop a hybrid bio-nanocomposite-based piezoelectric sensor. With various chitosan concentrations, the piezoelectric characteristics of the resultant ZnO/PVDF/chitosan composites were systematically investigated. XRD, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, SEM, TEM, and XPS investigations verified that ZnO was effectively incorporated within the polymer matrix after its fabrication using the hydrothermal technique. P-E hysteresis measurements were used to examine the ferroelectric properties of the composites, and the ZnO/PVDF/CS15 mixture showed increased residual polarization. A mechanical sensitivity of 6.3 mV g^-1 and a maximum piezoelectric strain coefficient (d₃₃) of 3.9 pC N^-1 have been measured. These results show that ZnO/PVDF/chitosan-based films may be utilized as biocompatible, flexible, and reliable sensors for industrial vibration detection applications.