Thermal Stability of Micro-Structured PDMS Piezo-Electrets under Various Polymeric Reticulation Ratios for Sensor Applications

Abstract

The effect of the polymeric reticulation on the thermal stability of the piezoelectricity of a micro-structured PDMS piezo-electret was investigated. This new family of flexible piezoelectric materials with very low Young’s modulus is used for wearable sensors and energy harvester devices. The best thermal stability was obtained for the piezo-electret material made from the ratio 1:10 between the prepolymer and the crosslinking agent with a longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient d33 = 350 pC/N. The highest piezoelectric coefficient d33 = 750 pC/N was obtained for the ratio 1:20, but the piezoelectricity was lost at 45 °C by thermally stimulated discharge

Keywords

• piezo-electret
• PDMS
• electro-active polymer
• piezoelectricity
• thermal stability