PVDF-TrFE Electroactive Polymer Mechanical-to-Electrical Energy Harvesting Experimental Bimorph Structure

Liquid-phase tuning of porous PVDF-TrFE film on flexible substrate for energy harvesting

Cold-field switching in PVDF-TrFE ferroelectric polymer nanomesas.

Polarization reversal in ferroelectric nanomesas of polyvinylidene fluoride with trifluoroethylene has been probed by ultrahigh vacuum piezoresponse force microscopy in a wide temperature range from 89 to 326 K. In dramatic contrast to the macroscopic data, the piezoresponse force microscopy local switching was nonthermally activated and, at the same time, occurring at electric fields significa...

PVDF microbelts for harvesting energy from respiration†

In this paper, we report a technique that uses piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) microbelts to convert the energy from low-speed air flow to electricity via their resonant oscillation. The micrometre thick PVDF thin films were fabricated by a top-down reactive ion etching process, where the thickness was controlled by etching time and the piezoelectric phase was well preserved. The t...

Density functional theory and molecular dynamics studies of the energetics and kinetics of electroactive polymers: PVDF and P(VDF-TrFE)

We used first principles methods to study static and dynamical mechanical properties of the ferroelectric polymer poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and its copolymer with trifluoro ethylene (TrFE). We use density functional theory [within the generalized gradient approximation (DFT-GGA)] to calculate structure and energetics for various crystalline phases for PVDF and P(VDF-TrFE). We find that t...

Electrochemically driven mechanical energy harvesting

Efficient mechanical energy harvesters enable various wearable devices and auxiliary energy supply. Here we report a novel class of mechanical energy harvesters via stress-voltage coupling in electrochemically alloyed electrodes. The device consists of two identical Li-alloyed Si as electrodes, separated by electrolyte-soaked polymer membranes. Bending-induced asymmetric stresses generate chemi...