Development of a Flexible Piezoelectrc Materials Platform Based on PVDF Nanocomposites for Microsensor Applications
Abstract
Piezoelectric flexible substrates are of great importance for acoustic wave microsensor applications due to a number of advantages such as: materials adaptability to any surface, low cost of production and ecologically friendly. In this work, we conduct the rigorous study of synthesis and characterization of Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and Polyvinylidene fluoride-based nanocomposites to obtain the optimal processing parameter leading to enhanced microsensor performance. PVDF is a known piezoelectric polymer with great properties such as flexibility, high thermal stability, high permittivity, chemically resistant, low acoustic impedance and membrane forming properties. Nanoparticles enhance the functional properties of composites. To enhance the functional properties of PVDF, the polymer was doped with graphene oxide (GO) sheets, barium titanate (BTO) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) nanoparticles. The produced materials were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Mechanical testing using the Deben micro test tensile tester was also done on the samples to observe the tensile properties. We found that GO doped PVDF can lead to phase modulations by light intensity via local soft laser heating and that BTO nps increase the fraction of piezoelectric β phase which can be observed in XRD and stress-strain relation studies. On the contrary, we found that adding paraelectric SiO2 nanoparticles lead to non-piezoelectric phase formation. The current studies described in the thesis shows that optimal doping of PVDF with functional nanomaterials enhances its functionality and leads to flexible piezoelectric composite materials useful for acoustic wave microsensor applications
Subject Area
Materials science
Recommended Citation
Akinwunmi Joaquim,
"Development of a Flexible Piezoelectrc Materials Platform Based on PVDF Nanocomposites for Microsensor Applications"
(2018).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI10979086.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI10979086