Title: Poly (vinylidene fluoride) piezoelectric nanofibers fabricated by non-uniform field electrospinning

Authors: Dezhi Wu; Shaohua Huang; Zhiming Xiao; Lingke Yu; Lingyun Wang; Daoheng Sun; Liwei Lin

Addresses: School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China; Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Shenzhen Research Institute of Xiamen University, Shenzhen 518057, China ' School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China ' School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China ' School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China ' School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China ' School of Aerospace Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

Abstract: Non-uniform field electrospinning, in which parallel top-bottom configuration of two different materials worked as collector to change electric field, is utilised to fabricate aligned poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) fibres. The electrospun PVDF fibres with average diameters from 440 to 475 nm fabricated from the substrate configuration of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are chosen as air pressure sensing elements. The effect of PETs thickness and electrospinning time on the piezoelectric properties and morphology of PVDF fibres was studied. The results show that with increasing of the PETs thickness, the arrangement of PVDF fibres becomes more oriented and the piezoelectric properties are greatly improved. But, the electrospinning time cannot enhance their piezoelectric effect. The pressure sensor with such PVDF nanofibers has sensibility of 5.812 mV kPa⁻¹ and the electrical output is about 100 mV at 0.025 MPa air pressure.

Keywords: non-uniform fields; piezoelectric properties; non-uniform field electrospinning; pressure sensors; PVDF nanofibres; polyvinylidene fluoride; piezoelectric nanofibres; polyethylene terephthalate; PET; polydimethylsiloxane; PDMS; air pressure sensing; thickness; electrospinning time; fibre morphology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNM.2015.075239

International Journal of Nanomanufacturing, 2015 Vol.11 No.5/6, pp.297 - 310

Received: 05 Mar 2015
Accepted: 04 Nov 2015
Published online: 08 Mar 2016 *

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