Abstract
We have developed a highly sensitive flexible pressure sensor based on a piezopolymer and silver nanowires (AgNWs) composite. The composite nanofiber webs are made by electrospinning mixed solutions of poly(inylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and Ag NWs in a cosolvent mixture of dimethyl formamide and acetone. The diameter of the fibers ranges from 200 nm to 500 nm, as demonstrated by SEM images. FTIR and XRD results reveal that doping Ag NWs into PVDF greatly enhances the content of β phase in PVDF. This β phase increase can be attributed to interactions between the Ag NWs and the PVDF matrix, which forces the polymer chains to be embedded into the β phase crystalline. The sensitivity of the pressure sensors agrees well with the FTIR and XRD characteristics. In our experiments, the measured sensitivity reached up to 30 pC/N for the nanofiber webs containing 1.5 wt% Ag NWs, which is close to that of poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE), (77/23)]. This study may provide a new method of fabricating high performance flexible sensors at relatively low cost compared with sensors based on [P(VDF-TrFE), (77/23)].
Highlights
IntroductionIt is widely used in human-related applications for its flexibility, light weight and biocompatibility, e.g., in sphygmomanometers [4], pressure sensors [5,6,7,8] and nanogenerators [9]
PVDF is well known for its outstanding ferroelectrical [1], pyroelectrical [2], and piezoelectrical [3]properties
The crystalline β phase is an attractive structure as s polar crystalline form in PVDF, while the crystalline γ phase [10] and crystalline δ phase have poor properties compared with the crystalline polar β phase
Summary
It is widely used in human-related applications for its flexibility, light weight and biocompatibility, e.g., in sphygmomanometers [4], pressure sensors [5,6,7,8] and nanogenerators [9]. It is a semicrystalline material with a nonpolar crystalline α phase (trans-gauche conformation, TGTG’), crystalline polar β phase (all trans-conformation, TTT), crystalline γ phase (one gauge four units, T3GT3G’) and crystalline δ phase. In pristine PVDF, polymer chains are tangled and tend to form a random coil structure with the TGTG’
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