Cellular Polyolefin Composites as Piezoelectric Materials: Properties and Applications
1
Lukasiewicz Research Network—Institute of Microelectronics and Photonics, Zabłocie 39, 30-701 Kraków, Poland
2
Department of Biomedical Chemistry and Polymers, Faculty of Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Gagarina 7, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
3
Łukasiewicz Research Network—Institute for Engineering of Polymer Materials and Dyes—Toruń Division, M. Skłodowskiej-Curie 55, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Polymers 2020, 12(11), 2698; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112698
Received: 27 October 2020
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Revised: 12 November 2020
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Accepted: 13 November 2020
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Published: 16 November 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Piezoelectric Polymers, Composites and Materials for Modern Technologies)
Piezoelectric polymers characterized by flexibility are sought for applications in microelectronics, medicine, telecommunications, and everyday devices. The objective of this work was to obtain piezoelectric polymeric composites with a cellular structure and to evaluate their usefulness in practice. Composites based on polyolefins (isotactic-polypropylene and polyethylene) with the addition of aluminosilicate fillers were manufactured by extrusion, and then polarized in a constant electric field at 100 V/µm. The content of mineral fillers up to 10 wt% in the polymer matrix enhances its electric stability and mechanical strength. The value of the piezoelectric coefficient d33 attained ~150 pC/N in the range of lower stresses and ~80 pC/N in the range of higher stresses, i.e., at ~120 kPa. The materials exhibited high durability in time, therefore, they can be used as transducers of mechanical energy of the human motion into electric energy. It was demonstrated that one shoe insert generates an energy of 1.1 mJ after a person walks for 300 s. The miniaturized integrated circuits based on polyolefin composites may be applied for the power supply of portable electronics. Due to their high sensitivity, they can be recommended for measuring the blood pulse.
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Keywords:
piezoelectric composites; polypropylene; polyethylene; cellular structure; piezoelectric sensors; energy harvesters
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MDPI and ACS Style
Klimiec, E.; Kaczmarek, H.; Królikowski, B.; Kołaszczyński, G. Cellular Polyolefin Composites as Piezoelectric Materials: Properties and Applications. Polymers 2020, 12, 2698. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112698
AMA Style
Klimiec E, Kaczmarek H, Królikowski B, Kołaszczyński G. Cellular Polyolefin Composites as Piezoelectric Materials: Properties and Applications. Polymers. 2020; 12(11):2698. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112698
Chicago/Turabian StyleKlimiec, Ewa, Halina Kaczmarek, Bogusław Królikowski, and Grzegorz Kołaszczyński. 2020. "Cellular Polyolefin Composites as Piezoelectric Materials: Properties and Applications" Polymers 12, no. 11: 2698. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112698
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