Enhanced piezoelectric performance from carbon fluoropolymer nanocomposites

The piezoelectric performance of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is shown to double through the controlled incorporation of carbon nanomaterial. Specifically, PVDF composites containing carbon fullerenes (C-60) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) are fabricated over a range of compositions and optimized for their Young's modulus, dielectric constant, and d(31) piezoelectric coefficient. Thermally stimulated current measurements show a large increase in internal charge and polarization in the composites over pure PVDF. The electromechanical coupling coefficients (k(31)) at optimal loading levels are found to be 1.84 and 2 times greater than pure PVDF for the PVDF-C-60 and PVDF-SWNT composites, respectively. Such property-enhanced nanocomposites could have significant benefit to electromechanical systems employed for structural sensing, energy scavenging, sonar, and biomedical imaging. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4768923]