Work

Optimizing the piezoelectric response of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) electrospun mats: effects of copolymer composition, microstructure and thermal treatments

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Electrospun piezoelectric polymers have attracted enormous interest in recent decades due to their flexibility, lightweight, and good piezoelectric response. This work investigates structure–property relationships in a series of electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride- co -trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE) copolymers to find the conditions to maximize the piezoelectric charge coefficient, d 33 . Nanofibrous mats of PVDF-TrFE at different molar fraction compositions are annealed and/or poled at their respective Curie Temperatures and then characterized using DSC, WAXD, FT-IR, and piezometry. The data collected for the as-spun, annealed, and/or polarized samples are initially analyzed individually, followed by an evaluation of property interrelations. The results show a positive correlation between the d 33 and the crystallinity degree and the crystallite size, while a negative correlation with the FT-IR absorbances associated with gauche defects is found. Interestingly, a linear combination of these three properties proves a good predictor of the d 33 value. Notably, during this investigation, we measured d 33 as high as 37.1, 42.7 and 34.7 pC N −1 , for the 70:30, 75:25, 80:20 M fractions, respectively, representing the highest reported values for nanofibrous PVDF-TrFE mats in the literature. This outstanding result is obtained thanks to the synergic effect of annealing and poling treatments.

Source: European Polymer Journal

DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2025.114159