Flexible dopamine-functionalized BaTiO3/BaTiZrO3/BaZrO3-PVDF ferroelectric nanofibers for electrical energy storage

Electroactive polymer - ceramic based flexible ferroelectric nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning technique using a stationary collector. Dopamine functionalized barium titanate (DBTO), dopamine functionalized barium zirconium titanate (DBZTO) and dopamine functionalized barium zirconate (DBZO) were used as fillers and polyvinyldene fluoride (PVDF) was used as the polymer matrix. A fixed concentration (10 wt%) of functionalized nanoparticles were added to the 15 wt% of polymeric solution and electrospinning was carried out. From the basic characterization techniques like XRD and FTIR, the ferroelectric β-crystalline phase of PVDF was found to be improved with the addition of filler. A systematic analysis on the structural, morphological, electrical and mechanical properties of the composite system was done. Electrical, ferroelectric and mechanical properties of the composite fibers were found to be enhanced with the addition of nanoparticles. Such composite nanofibers with excellent dielectric and ferroelectric properties along with good mechanical property can be exploited as storage media in electronic devices as well as in ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAM) etc.