Different scale confinements of PVDF-TrFE as functional material of piezoelectric sensor devices

The effect of micro and nanostructuration on the piezoelectric properties of polymeric samples was studied in the present work. We prepared micro-sized pillars and nano-wires (thus one-dimensional structures) of a piezoelectric polymer Poly(VinyliDene Fluoride-Tri FluoroEthylene) PVDF-TrFE and we compared their structural and piezoelectrical properties with a thin film (thus two-dimensional) of the same material. X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy measurements showed that the crystallization of the polymer into the ferroelectric β-phase is affected by the size of the confinement. The piezoelectric characterization of the three polymeric structures showed important improvements as far as the nanostructuration is reached. Application as tactile sensor devices is therefore under development.