Nanoscale piezoresponse of 70 nm poly(vinylidene fluoride‐trifluoro‐ethylene) films annealed at different temperatures

Abstract

In order to characterize the piezoelectric properties of 70 nm thick poly(vinylidene fluoride‐trifluoroethylene), P(VDF‐TrFE), films grown by a spin‐coating technique, both nanoscale manipulation and polarization switching were studied using piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM). We varied the annealing temperature from 75 °C to 145 °C and achieved a high‐quality 70 nm P(VDF‐TrFE) film annealed at the temperature of 95 °C. Ferroelectric domains and their properties were confirmed using X‐ray diffraction, grazing incidence reflection absorption Fourier Transform Infrared (GIRA‐FTIR) and PFM analysis. The ferroelectric domains in the film were homogeneously switchable below 5 V with a remnant d33 of 14.9 pm/V. This offers our rationale for a promise in energy harvesting and switchability would be good for plastic electronics. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Effect of thermal annealing on ferroelectric domain structures in poly(vinylidene-fluoride-trifluorethylene) Langmuir-Blodgett thin films

“…Piezo-response force microscopy (PFM) has proven to be a powerful tool to probe the ferroelectric domain structures and polarization switching dynamics at the nanoscale in ferroelectric polymers. 7,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21] In this work, we report the PFM study of the effect of thermal annealing on ferroelectric domain structures in 6 to 20 monolayer (ML) polycrystalline ferroelectric PVDF-TrFE thin films. Stripe-shape domain structures were written at room temperature and subjected to thermal annealing at progressively higher temperatures up to the ferroelectric Curie temperature T C of approximately 110 C. The static configuration of the domain walls (DWs) does not exhibit appreciable changes in characteristics after thermal annealing, showing an temperature-independent roughness exponent f of 0.4-0.5, which is qualitatively different from what has been observed in ferroelectric oxides.…”

Effect of Annealing Temperature on the Morphology and Piezoresponse Characterisation of Poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) Films via Scanning Probe Microscopy

“…Zeng et al [11] demonstrated that films above the melting 2 Advances in Condensed Matter Physics point retain ferroelectric character. Recently, piezoresponse force microscopy is used for nanoscale characterisation of ferroelectric domains and polarization related processes in PVDF-TrFE films annealed below the melting point [13,14]. In this work, nanoscale characterisation of the morphology, polarization switching, and local piezoresponse hysteresis loops for PVDF-TrFE films annealed within the range 125 to 180 ∘ C is presented.…”

Synthesis and Application of Ferroelectric Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride-co-Trifluoroethylene) Films using Electrophoretic Deposition

“…To check the ferroelectric phase formation in the films, we conducted X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis on P(VDF-TrFE) films with various thicknesses. It is well known that the prominent peak at 2θ = 19.7° is the sum reflections of (110) and (200) planes of the crystalline β phase34. In Fig.…”