Abstract
Ferroelectric polymers are promising as piezoelectric sensors and devices for data storage, energy harvesting and fast energy storage. However, efficient electric polarization as well as piezoelectric and dielectric responses of as-deposited films are often much lower than expected in a crystalline model, because the local orientations of electric dipoles show substantial disorder. Here we introduce an approach for in-plane alignment of the polarization based on applying soft mechanical pressure with a force microscopy tip. Micron-sized ferroelectric domains with well-defined in-plane and out-of-plane polarization orientation and low surface roughness have been written in poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE) films on graphite. Inside such domains, the piezoelectric response is more than four times that of the untreated film. The achieved polarization alignment can advance the performance of many devices, since it reduces the cancellation of local responses to electric fields or mechanical strains resulting from polarization disorder.
Highlights
Ferroelectric polymers are attractive candidates for functional layers in electronic devices like non-volatile memories [1,2,3,4,5,6], piezoelectric and magnetoelectric sensors [7, 8], energy harvesters [9, 10], and capacitor-based energy storage devices [11]
Such electrodes are often an obstacle for designing devices. (For instance, they cover a significant part of the film surface with a conducting material.) We report on an alternative method to achieve the in-plane alignment of polarization which is based on mechanical pressure of a force microscopy tip
Large ferroelectric domains containing many crystalline lamellae have been written with well-defined in-plane and out-of-plane polarization orientation in the applied scanning range of a force microscope
Summary
Robert Roth , Martin Koch, Jakob Schaab, Martin Lilienblum, Frank Syrowatka, Tino Band, Thomas Thurn-Albrecht and Kathrin Dörr. Micron-sized ferroelectric domains with well-defined in-plane and out-of-plane polarization orientation and low surface roughness have been written in poly(vinylidene fluoridetrifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE) films on graphite. Inside such domains, the piezoelectric response is more than four times that of the untreated film. The achieved polarization alignment can advance the performance of many devices, since it reduces the cancellation of local responses to electric fields or mechanical strains resulting from polarization disorder
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