Enhanced dielectric and piezoelectric properties of 0–3 PZT/PVDF composites

Abstract

Flexible piezoelectric composite films of ([PZT/]x/[PVDF]1-x (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) with 0–3 connectivity were synthesized from 0.2 wt% Li2CO3 added PZT ceramic powders in the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) and PVDF polymer by solution cast technique under optimized thermal processing conditions. It is seen that crystallinity and β phase are enhanced with the addition of Li in the composite films and as well as with the volume content of PZT ceramics in PVDF matrix, thereby resulting in superior dielectric and piezoelectric properties. It is also seen that reasonably high dielectric and piezoelectric properties are obtained for 30 % of the volume content of PZT ceramics as compared to 50 % of the volume content of ceramic in the polymer matrix as reported in literature and hence, the flexibility is better in these films.