Preparation and characterization of P(VDF-TrFE)/Al2O3 nanocomposite

Hybrid nanocomposites based on crystalline nanoparticles dispersed in polymer matrix have been widely studied in the past few years because of the ability of these materials to combine the properties of organic polymer and inorganic nanoparticles. The aim of this work is to tune the mechanical properties of a piezoelectric polymer by adding nanoparticles to the matrix. In this paper, alumina nanoparticles were dispersed in the copolymer P(VDF-TrFE), which exhibits high piezoelectric coefficient after polarization under high electric field without needing stretching during the polarization process. Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy demonstrate the high rate of welldispersed nanoparticles with 10% of alumina nanoparticles added to the matrix. Piezoelectric measurements indicate that P(VDF-TrFE) may be filled by up to 10 wt% of alumina while retaining its high piezoelectric properties and increasing its elastic constant by more than 20%, measured by Brillouin spectroscopy. This work opens a wide range of applications using nanoparticles with nonlinear optical, pyroelectric, magnetic, or ferroelectric properties.