Effect of layered transition metal dichalcogenide hybrid nanomaterials on the piezoelectric performance of non-solvent induced phase separated polyvinylidene fluoride

Abstract

Layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with high aspect ratios enhance the alignment of polymer chains and induce a preferred orientation of the polymeric crystallites when incorporated into polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). In addition to offering an effective charge-transfer mechanism, TMDs give PVDF more rigidity and piezoelectric qualities. This work reports the non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) introduced while developing the PVDF/MoS2 composites. During the NIPS, the PVDF chains become phase-separated, which induces high polarization in the PVDF matrix. Phase-separated PVDF/MoS2 composites show high porosity and charge distribution attributed to the enhanced piezoelectric output voltage. While the neat PVDF demonstrated very feeble output voltage generation, the hybrid composite containing 2 wt.% of MoS2/ZnO facilitated almost 20 times higher performance (peak-to-peak voltage of 2.4 V). This work yielded a phase-separated composite that finds uses in energy harvesting, sensors, and actuators, among other fields. Highlights: NIPS creates high-porosity composites with improved charge distribution. Layered TMDs improve charge-transfer mechanism and PVDF's electrical properties. 2 wt.% MoS2/ZnO exhibits nearly 20 times higher voltage generation than neat PVDF.