Inkjet printing of high molecular weight PVDF-TrFE for flexible electronics

Abstract

Introduction of the revolutionary drop-on-demand (DoD) inkjet printing technique for microelectronics allows the use of flexible substrate, organic and inorganic materials, and low-cost volume fabrication. However, inks of different functional materials for varieties of applications are still under development. Polyvinylidene fluoride–trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE), a potential candidate for mechanical and acoustic sensors, actuators, energy harvesting and nonvolatile memory applications, is a copolymer that exhibits piezo-, pyro- and ferro-electric properties. During this work, inkjet-printed films using high molecular weight PVDF-TrFE were developed and characterized to investigate their morphology and crystallinity. Modified waveform and very low jetting frequency have been used to accommodate relaxation time of the polymeric ink during jetting. Crystallographic studies confirm the presence of a β-phase, which exhibits spontaneous polarization per unit cell.