Composites, Fabrication and Application of Polyvinylidene Fluoride for Flexible Electromechanical Devices: A Review

Abstract

The technological development of piezoelectric materials is crucial for developing wearable and flexible electromechanical devices. There are many inorganic materials with piezoelectric effects, such as piezoelectric ceramics, aluminum nitride and zinc oxide. They all have very high piezoelectric coefficients and large piezoelectric response ranges. The characteristics of high hardness and low tenacity make inorganic piezoelectric materials unsuitable for flexible devices that require frequent bending. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and its derivatives are the most popular materials used in flexible electromechanical devices in recent years and have high flexibility, high sensitivity, high ductility and a certain piezoelectric coefficient. Owing to increasing the piezoelectric coefficient of PVDF, researchers are committed to optimizing PVDF materials and enhancing their polarity by a series of means to further improve their mechanical–electrical conversion efficiency. This paper reviews the latest PVDF-related optimization-based materials, related processing and polarization methods and the applications of these materials in, e.g., wearable functional devices, chemical sensors, biosensors and flexible actuator devices for flexible micro-electromechanical devices. We also discuss the challenges of wearable devices based on flexible piezoelectric polymer, considering where further practical applications could be.

Tuning of shear thickening behavior and elastic strength of polyvinylidene fluoride via doping of ZnO‐graphene

“…PVDF and PVDF based nanocomposite are very useful to the electromechanical application due to the piezoelectrical properties of the polymer 65 . However, various carbon and semiconducting nanomaterials can be used to tune the dielectric, thermal and mechanical strength of PVDF composite.…”

Influence of Sodium Maghnite Nanoclay on the Polyvinylidene Fluoride Crystal Transition in Composite Membranes and Its Effect on Bovine Serum Albumin Protein Extraction

“…The research idea is based on the incorporation of Magnesium into PVDF structure by NIPS using different weight ratios of PVDF/MgCl2, DMF solvent and denoised water as no solvent. The results of characterization using XRD, FTIR [19]. Other research work by have been found the PVDF crystal change to higher value percentages of β phases 80%, 71% and 84%, this is due to inclusion of Cloisite 30B and MWCNT which increase the reinforcement of the surface [20].…”

Pressure-Dependent Clustering in Ionic-Liquid-Poly (Vinylidene Fluoride) Mixtures: An Infrared Spectroscopic Study

“…As a semi-crystalline polymer, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF) consists of five main phase structures, namely α, β, γ, δ, and ε phases [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Owing to the specific conformation of the carbon chain backbone, considerable attention has been paid to the β structure of PVdF, which is known to have piezo-, pyro-, and ferroelectric applications [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”

“…As a semi-crystalline polymer, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF) consists of five main phase structures, namely α, β, γ, δ, and ε phases [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Owing to the specific conformation of the carbon chain backbone, considerable attention has been paid to the β structure of PVdF, which is known to have piezo-, pyro-, and ferroelectric applications [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Unlike piezoelectric ceramics, piezoelectric polymers such as PVdF are flexible, which may be crucial in the development of wearable electronic mobile devices in the future [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ].…”

“…Owing to the specific conformation of the carbon chain backbone, considerable attention has been paid to the β structure of PVdF, which is known to have piezo-, pyro-, and ferroelectric applications [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Unlike piezoelectric ceramics, piezoelectric polymers such as PVdF are flexible, which may be crucial in the development of wearable electronic mobile devices in the future [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. PVdF and its derivative copolymer (as well as piezoelectric ceramic–PVdF composites) may be promising candidates for tactile sensors, pressure sensors, shock sensors, and thermal measurement devices [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ].…”