Convenient folding-hot-pressing fabrication and enhanced piezoelectric properties of high β-phasecontent poly(vinylidene fluoride) films

Abstract

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is the most attractive piezoelectric polymerfor application in flexible sensors. To attain excellent piezoelectric properties,a substantial amount of spontaneous polar β-phase content is highly desired.Nevertheless, the current reported manufacturing methods to increase β-phasecontents are inconvenient and complex, hindering progress in PVDF’sapplication. This work proposes a folding-hot-pressing method to fabricatehigh β-phase-content PVDF films. Structural characterization indicates thatthe films have α and β phases and the folding-hot-pressing process transformsthe α phase into the β phase. Due to the 97.5% β-phase content and alignedstructure, a piezoelectric constant of 20 pC/N is achieved in the three-timesfolded film. Furthermore, the process method enhances the tensile strength(126.2 MPa) of the films, with a low Young’s modulus (0.87 GPa) remaining,making the films applicable for flexible piezoelectric sensors. Additionally,sensors based on the achieved films were assembled and applied for humanphysiological activity monitoring. This work offers a scalable new meltprocessingstrategy for developing high-performance PVDF-based piezoelectriccomposite films for wearable electronic devices.

Keywords

flexible sensors / high β-phase content / piezoelectric properties / PVDF film

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