We report our first-principles studies on the linear and non-linear optical properties of ferroelectric polyvinylidene fluoride crystal. Calculated values of the refractive indices agree well with experiments. As regards the second-harmonic-generation coefficients, theoretical values are larger than experimental ones. Possible reasons for the discrepancy are discussed. Polyvinylidene fluoride (...

In this paper, a recently developed numerical method to analyze dielectric-spectroscopy data is applied to α-phase polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). The numerical procedure is non-parametric and does not contain any of the extensively used empirical formulas mentioned in the literature. The method basically recovers the unknown distribution of relaxation times of the generalized dielectric functi...

The high quality properties and benefits of graphene-oxide have generated an active area of research where many investigations have shown potential applications in various technological fields. This paper proposes a methodology for enhancing the pyro-electricity of PVDF by graphene-oxide doping. The PVDF film with graphene-oxide is prepared by the sol-gel method. Firstly, PVDF and graphene-oxid...

A novel polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) tree-like nanofiber membrane (PVDF-TLNM) was fabricated by adding tetrabutylammonium chloride (TBAC) into a PVDF spinning solution via one-step electrospinning. The structure of the prepared membranes was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and pore size analysis, and the hy...

This report describes the detailed procedures for Western blot analysis using fluorescent antibodies. After electrophoresis and subsequent electroblotting, the fluorescent-labeled antibodies were visible upon ultraviolet illumination of the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes and could then be photographed to give an accurate record of the blots. Fluorescent labeling allows for photographi...

Reversible bromoform adsorption on crystalline polyvinylidene fluoride with 30% of trifluoroethylene, P(VDF–TrFE 70:30) was examined by photoemission and inverse photoemission spectroscopies. The adsorption of bromoform on this polymer surface is associative and reversible. Molecular bromoform adsorption appears to be an activated process at 120 K with enhanced adsorption following the initial ...

A near-field room temperature scanning magnetic probe microscope has been developed using a laminated magnetoelectric sensor. The simple trilayer longitudinal-transverse mode sensor, fabricated using Metglas as the magnetostrictive layer and polyvinylidene fluoride as the piezoelectric layer, shows an ac field sensitivity of 467+/-3 microV/Oe in the measured frequency range of 200 Hz-8 kHz. The...

Polymer microring resonators for low-noise, wideband ultrasound detection are presented. Using a nanoimprinting technique, we fabricated polymer microring resonators with a quality factor of 6000 resulting in high sensitivity to ultrasound. A noise-equivalent pressure of 0.23 kPa over 1-75 MHz and a detection bandwidth of over 90 MHz at -3 dB were measured. These results demonstrate the potenti...

The wear of polymer-based materials is connected to their brittleness. We have previously formulated a quantitative definition of brittleness in terms of elongation at break and storage modulus for thermoplastic polymers. We provide a formula connecting brittleness to viscoelastic recovery (healing) after sliding wear. Our model fits a selection of ten thermoplastics representing several classe...

A new touch sensor device has been demonstrated with molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) field effect transistors stacked with a piezoelectric polymer, polyvinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE). The performance of two device stack structures, metal/PVDF-TrFE/MoS2 (MPM) and metal/PVDF-TrFE/Al2O3/MoS2 (MPAM), were compared as a function of the thickness of PVDF-TrFE and Al2O3. The sensitivity...