Piezoelectric and Dielectric Properties of Electrospun Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) Blended with Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNCs)

Abstract PVDF is a semicrystalline polymer made up of repeating units of ─CH 2 CF 2 ─ monomer and has five crystalline phases, which are α , β , γ , δ , and ε ‐phases. However, piezoelectricity of PVDF is dependent on the β ‐phase crystalline. Thus, to increase the formation of the β ‐phase, CNCs with various weights (1%–5%) are incorporated into PVDF by using the electrospinning method. The influence of CNCs on electrospun PVDF/CNCs is investigated by using analytical methods such as FESEM, FTIR, XRD, universal testing machine (UTM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and piezoelectric d 33 meter. After incorporating CNCs into electrospun PVDF, two peaks of α ‐phase diminished in FTIR absorption and the addition also enhanced mechanical and dielectric properties of the membrane. The piezoelectric constant, dielectric properties, and β ‐phase content also increased with higher CNCs addition. PVDF with 4% CNCs has the highest β ‐phase content up to 91.74% with the maximum piezoelectric constant, d 33 of 45.0 pCN −1 and dielectric constant of 5.4.