A green solvent strategy for the development of piezoelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride – trifluoroethylene) films for sensors and actuators applications

Green chemistry approaches are increasingly relevant for the development of sustainable technologies, but this approach is scarcely being use in the field of piezoelectric polymers. Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) based materials are the family of polymers with the larger piezoelectric response and, when processed from solution, are typically prepared using N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as solvent. This works demonstrates that poly(vinylidene fluoride–trifluoroethylene) P(VDF–TrFE) films can be prepared by solvent casting using 1,3-dioxolane (DXL) as a solvent. The influence of solvent evaporation temperature has been studied and compared with P(VDF-TrFE) films produced with DMF. It is shown that piezoelectric films with a d33 ~ -21 pC.N-1 and suitable for applications can be obtained by this greener approach, opening the way for the development of environmentally friendlier sensors and actuators based on the PVDF family.This work was funded by the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, project PTDC/EEI-SII/5582/2014. P.M., V.F.C. and C.M.C. also thank the FCT for grants SFRH/BPD/96227/2013, SFRH/BPD/98109/2013 and SFRH/BPD/112547/2015, respectively. The authors thank financial support from the Basque Government Industry Department under the ELKARTEK Program. SLM thanks the Diputación de Bizkaia for financial support under the Bizkaia Talent program