Summary
Measuring the transverse piezoelectric coefficient d31 of soft materials is awkward, because the usual methods require metallising the sample or contacting it with electrodes - treatments that a nanofibre mesh does not survive intact. This work describes an apparatus that measures the converse piezoelectric coefficient of compliant samples in the form of stripes, wires or thin films without any such contact, making it directly applicable to electrospun nanofibre meshes and similar nanostructured polymeric devices. Very small coefficients become detectable through an amplification scheme based on mechanical resonance, and the method yields quantitative rather than merely comparative values.
Authors & Affiliations
Linari Electrospinning Systems
Electrospinning support by Linari Engineering
The authors acknowledge Linari Engineering S.r.l. (Pisa, Italy) for assistance with the electrospinning work behind this study. Support of this kind - from process advice to producing the samples in our laboratory in Pisa - is part of what we offer alongside the equipment itself.