Solid-state-processing of d_PVDF

TL;DR

This paper introduces a scalable solid-state processing method to produce fully piezoelectric PVDF films at temperatures below melting, enabling industrial-scale manufacturing of piezoelectric polymer films with high performance.

Contribution

It presents a novel single-step solid-state processing technique to produce piezoelectric PVDF films, overcoming previous processing limitations.

Findings

Produced PVDF films with piezoelectric charge coefficients comparable to biaxially stretched PVDF.

Demonstrated a simple, scalable process suitable for industrial production.

Achieved high thermal stability and piezoelectric response in processed films.

Abstract

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) has long been regarded as an ideal piezoelectric plastic because it exhibits a large piezoelectric response and a high thermal stability. However, the realization of piezoelectric PVDF elements has proven to be problematic, amongst others, due to the lack of industrially-scalable methods to process PVDF into the appropriate polar crystalline forms. Here, we show that fully piezoelectric PVDF films can be produced via a single-step process that exploits the fact that PVDF can be molded at temperatures below its melting temperature, i.e. via solid-state-processing. We demonstrate that we thereby produce d_PVDF, the piezoelectric charge coefficient of which is comparable to that of biaxially stretched d_PVDF. We expect that the simplicity and scalability of solid-state processing combined with the excellent piezoelectric properties of our PVDF structures will provide new opportunities for this commodity polymer and will open a range of possibilities for future, large-scale, industrial production of plastic piezoelectric films