PVDF–HFP/PZT Nanocomposite thin films: Preparation, Structure and Piezoelectric Properties

Abstract

Piezoelectric nanocomposites have attracted considerable attention from researchers in these last years due to their wide field in the development of electromechanical microsystems (MEMS) for energy harvesting applications. In this paper, piezoelectric lead titanate zirconate (PZT) are used with poly (vinylidene fluoride-hexafuoropropylene) (PVdF-HFP) polymer matrix to prepare the piezo thin nanocomposite film. An improvement in the β phase in PVdF-HFP was created by the reaction between the PZT nanoparticles and PVdF-HFP and the process used for the preparation of the film, resulting enhancement in ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties over neat PVdF-HFP. These polymer nanocomposite films were done by solvent casting method under ultrasonication using N, N-Dimethyl Acetamide (DMAc) as a solvent, with different percentages of PZT. The results confirm that PZT nanoparticles incorporated into the PVDF-HFP matrix cause an increase in the phase fraction, opening the way for efficient energy harvesting applications in the future.