Tunable thermal conductivity of ferroelectric P(VDF-TrFE) nanofibers via molecular bond modulation

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that the thermal conductivity of ferroelectric P(VDF-TrFE) nanofibers can be tuned by electric field-induced molecular bond modulation, revealing the interplay between polarization and phonon transport.

Contribution

It introduces a method to modulate thermal conductivity in ferroelectric nanofibers through electric field-driven molecular bond changes, supported by Raman spectroscopy evidence.

Findings

Thermal conductivity increases with electric field.

Bond energy and length change under polarization.

Size influences ferroelectricity via thermal transport.

Abstract

The dipoles in ferroelectric copolymer P(VDF-TrFE) can be driven by electric field, introducing phonon transport modulations through polarizing molecular chains. The thermal conductivity in single 75/25 P(VDF-TrFE) nanofibers is found to increase with electric field related phonon renormalization, resulted from change in vibrational assignment excited by polarization process. This is evidenced by a direct change of bond energy and bond length in 75/25 P(VDF-TrFE) nanofibers from Raman characterization under polarization electric field. The experimental results provide further intuitive evidences that the size of ferroelectric polymers could directly affect the ferroelectricity from the size-dependent thermal transport measurement.