Effect of electrode material on piezoelectric output of PVDF sensor with electrospun nanofiber web

¹Key Laboratory of High-Performance Fibers & Products, Ministry of Education, Donghua University, Shanghai, P.R. China 201620

²Key Laboratory of Textile Science &Technology, Ministry of Education, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China

Adv. Mater. Lett., 2018, 9 (5), pp 363-368

DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2018.1958

Publication Date (Web): May 17, 2018

Copyright © IAAM-VBRI Press

E-mail: hjydhu@126.com

Abstract

The electrospun PVDF (Polyvinylidene Fluoride) nanofiber web is commonly agreed on a kind of new sensitive materials for the sensor testing the dynamic pressure and energy harvesting, and has the characteristics of fast response and high sensitivity of pressure. As a result of the nanofiber web, it must be packaged to collect piezoelectric charge and bear strong mechanical behavior before industrial practice. The packaging of PVDF nanofiber web is usually sandwiched by incorporating a pair of flexible electrode. However, the effects of the surface and mechanical properties of electrodes such as morphology, roughness and compressibility have not been well investigated yet. This work will introduce three common types of packaging electrode materials (adhesive copper foil tape, indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film, adhesive conductive cloth.) in previously published literatures, compares the piezoelectric output of their sensor prototypes under a periodic impact, and discusses the effect of surface morphology, electrical resistance, and compressibility. The results showed that it has higher output of PVDF piezoelectric sensor packaged by electrode materials with the smooth surface and low mechanical compressibility. This result provides a guideline for designing the textile electrode material for the PVDF nanofiber web.

Keywords

PVDF, electrospinning, nano-fiber web, piezoelectric, electrode.