Dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of a poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) synthesized via a hydrogenation process

The dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of a poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (P (VDF-co-TrFE)) copolymer synthesized via a novel hydrogenation process are presented in this work. Comparing with the direct copolymerized P(VDF-co-TrFE), the head-to-head (H–H) connection of vinylidene fluoride (VDF) and trifluoroethylene (TrFE) units in hydrogenized P(VDF-co-TrFE) results in the increasing crystal domains and the improvement of overall crystallinity and. Therefore, excellent electric properties, including dielectric constant of 11 at a frequency of 100 Hz, a piezoelectric value (d33) of −23 pC/N, a remnant polarization (Pr) of 7 μC/cm2 and a maximum polarization (Ps) of 10 μC/cm2 were observed in hydrogenized P(VDF-co-TrFE), which are rather close to that obtained in copolymerized copolymer. The results indicate that the improved condensed structures offer the low cost and convenient hydrogenized P(VDF-co-TrFE) broader application scenery in piezoelectric devices than the direct copolymer.