Flexible piezoelectric PVDF/TPU nanofibrous membranes produced by solution blow spinning

Abstract

Poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) nanofibers have been applied in producing piezoelectric membranes for energy harvesting in wearable devices under strenuous service conditions due to its outstanding properties such as piezoelectricity, flexibility, stability, and biocompatibility. Therefore, a processing technique with mass production capability and generating the highest possible piezoelectric properties of PVDF nanofibers is required. To achieve such requirements, this study presented a novel flexible piezoelectric membrane based on PVDF/TPU nanofibers using solution blow spinning (SBS). The addition of TPU into PVDF has been proven to increase the flexibility of the polymeric membranes. The produced membranes showed high piezoelectric response and sensitivity compared to other PVDF-based membranes in the literature especially at 5wt.% TPU concentration, owing to its small nanofiber diameter, high β fraction, and inducing reorientation of electric dipoles. The addition of TPU also significantly enhanced tensile strength and elasticity of the produced membranes. Based on those, this work has shown a promising method to produce high elastic-piezoelectric nanofibrous membrane using SBS.