Piezoelectric Polymers: Modelling, Processing and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Piezoelectric polymers are smart materials that convert mechanical stress into electric charge (direct effect) or deform under electric fields (inverse effect). Unlike rigid piezoelectric ceramics (e.g., PZT), they offer flexibility, lightweight design, and biocompatibility, enabling applications in wearables and implants. Key examples include polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and its copolymer PVDF-TrFE, prized for their piezoelectricity in the β-phase after poling; polyamides (Nylon-11), used in sensors and energy harvesters; poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA), a biodegradable option for biomedical devices; and cellular polypropylene (PP), ideal for low-cost acoustic sensors.

Advantages include flexibility for conformable electronics, biocompatibility for medical use, low acoustic impedance enhancing ultrasound imaging, and ease of processing into films or 3D structures. These polymers excel in energy harvesting (e.g., converting motion to electricity), sensors/actuators (wearables, robotics, and aerosurfaces), biomedical devices (biomechanical implants and drug delivery), acoustic systems (microphones and active acoustic barriers), and structural health monitoring (distributed accelerometers and extensometers).
Despite their versatility, challenges like lower piezoelectric output compared to ceramics and durability concerns under cyclic stress persist. Future advancements focus on nanocomposites (e.g., PVDF with graphene or ZnO nanoparticles) to boost performance, biodegradable formulations for sustainability and ferroelectrets, addressing a broad range of active materials and structures, and metamaterials based on piezoelectrets.

Piezoelectric polymers are transformative in flexible electronics, biomedicine, and green energy. Ongoing material innovations promise to overcome current limitations, cementing their role in next-generation technologies.

This Special Issue is inviting the submission of studies on  modeling, processing, and applications of piezoelectric polymers such as the following:
- anaytical and numerical modeling of polymer piezoelectrets (transformation and application),
- experimental analysis of piezoelectric polymers; etc.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Dr. Rui A. S. Moreira
Dr. Ruy Alberto Pisani Altafim
Guest Editors

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