Enhancing piezoelectricity of PVDF with organic dopants: From atomic- scale insights to advanced wearable devices

GS Han and ZH Zeng and ZH Kong and N Lu and YN Feng, NANO ENERGY, 144, 111383 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2025.111383

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is a highly promising material for piezoelectric wearable electronics, but only the all-trans beta-phase exhibits high piezoelectricity. Traditional inorganic dopants effectively promote the beta-phase but suffer from bio-incompatibility, depolarization, discontinuity, and poor manufacturing feasibility. To address these challenges, we combine molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and experiments to explore organic dopants. Our findings reveal that polypyrrole (PPy) with amino groups facilitates dipole alignment and enhances piezoelectricity by forming relatively weak hydrogen bonds, unlike hydroxyl-based dopants that induce clustering due to overly strong hydrogen bonding. Experimentally, PVDF-PPy composites synthesized via co-axial electrospinning achieve a beta-phase concentration of 97.6 % and a 2.5-fold increase in the piezoelectric d33 constant. We further demonstrate the practical application of PVDF-PPy in wearable electronic systems by integrating it into wearable piezoelectric receiver and diagnostic unit. These results provide a pathway for advancing piezoelectric devices with enhanced performance and potential for wearable applications.

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