Piezoelectric Lead Zirconium Titanate Composite Touch Sensors for Integration with Flexible OLED Technology

To enable the design of more intuitive product user interfaces, the prospects of matching piezoelectric touch sensors with flexible organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology are investigated. Low stiffness piezoelectric composite sensors, combining piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 powder with a polymer matrix, are prepared and compared to existing ceramic and polymer sensors. The piezoelectric sensitivity per stiffness of these piezoelectric composites can be tailored by adapting the polymer matrix to the stiffness required by the OLED, while retaining a relatively high sensitivity. Concurrently, the relatively low energy output of these flexible piezoelectric sensors can be increased through optimized sensor design. cop. 2015 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC