Synergetic Improvement of Flexoelectric Coefficient in liquid Crystal Embedded Flexible PVDF Polymer Composite for Energy Harvesting Applications.

Flexoelectricity is the universal electric polarization of dielectrics upon exertion of a non-uniform strain gradient. With the advancement of nano-technology and miniaturization of electronic devices, flexoelectricity holds the promise to address the power requirements for such device operation. The direct flexoelectric effect in liquid crystal (LC) embedded Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) polymer films is examined for the first time by the application of external strain on the films. Physical characterizations such as DSC, dielectric spectroscopy, XRD and FESEM are carried out to study the composite films' intrinsic and extrinsic properties like dielectric, crystallinity and morphologies. The value of the flexoelectric coefficient (μ 12 ) increases with the concentration of LC incorporation. At 3wt%, μ 12 attains a maximum value of 68 nC/m, which is more than a three-fold increase compared to that of the pure PVDF film. The role of Maxwell Wagner Sillars (MWS) polarization in determining flexoelectric polarization in polymer composites is also discussed. Moreover, the influence of the microstructure and domain size formation in determining the flexoelectric response are discussed in detail to infer the behaviour of the flexoelectric coefficients of the films. Potential device applications based on this phenomenon have been proposed for future research in sensing and actuation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.