Engineering Electrospun PVDF Nanofibers for Next-Generation Wearable Bioelectronics
Electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and P(VDF-TrFE) nanofibers offer a mechanically flexible, high-surface-area platform for wearable bioelectronics, including piezoelectric sensing and self-powered operation. This review establishes a process–structure–property–performance framework for engineering electrospun PVDF- and P(VDF-TrFE)-based wearable systems. Relationships amongst precursor composition, electrospinning parameters, fiber morphology and alignment, crystalline phase formation, dipole orientation, and device-level piezoelectric performance are examined. Electrospinning is compared with other established fabrication methods including solution casting, spin coating, melt processing, phase inversion, and printing in terms of electroactive β-phase fraction, flexibility, scalability, manufacturing complexity, cost, and wearable-device suitability. Device architectures and performance are evaluated across pressure and strain sensing, physiological monitoring, wound-healing interfaces, piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators, and self-powered wearable sensing applications. Additionally, this review considers the distinction between material-level piezoelectric properties and practical system-level performance, alongside challenges in manufacturing reproducibility, realistic mechanical loading, system integration, and long-term operation. Finally, manufacturing and translational considerations are evaluated, and a conceptual engineering roadmap links material selection and processing with microstructure, device architecture, electronics integration, and translation toward robust, scalable wearable bioelectronic systems.
Authors
- Reshmi Banerjee
- Gymama E. Slaughter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4307-091X)
Institutions
- Old Dominion University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Sensors
- Published
- 2026-10-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/s26196328
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00