Piezoelectric Yield of Single Electrospun Poly(acrylonitrile) Ultrafine Fibers

Published in Polymers, vol. 16(10), 1305 (2024) · MDPI · Open access, CC BY
DOI: 10.3390/polym16101305

Summary

Piezoelectricity in electrospun polymer fibres is usually assessed on whole mats, which averages away what individual fibres are doing. This study maps the converse piezoelectric coefficient d33 on single ultrafine fibres of poly(acrylonitrile), with poly(vinylidene fluoride) as a reference material, using piezoresponse force microscopy in constant-excitation frequency-modulation mode. Mapping at this scale reveals not only that individual fibres are piezoelectrically active but how that activity is distributed along their length, which turns out to be uniform over appreciable distances. The fibres were obtained by rotating electrospinning, the alignment step that orients the polymer chains responsible for the effect.

Authors & Affiliations

  • Monia Montorsi
    CNR-IPCF, Pisa Unit, Italy
  • Lorenzo Zavagna
    PEGASO Doctoral School in Life Sciences, University of Siena, Italy
  • Lorenzo Scarpelli
    CNR-IPCF, Pisa Unit, Italy
  • Bahareh Azimi
    Department of Molecular Medical Surgical Pathology and Critical Area, University of Pisa, Italy
  • Simone Capaccioli
    CNR-IPCF, Pisa Unit, Italy
  • Serena Danti
    CNR-IPCF, Pisa Unit, Italy
  • Massimiliano Labardi Corresponding
    CNR-IPCF, Pisa Unit, Italy

Linari Electrospinning Systems

Electrospinning bench apparatus with 40 kV generator
The fibres were produced on an electrospinning bench apparatus by Linari Engineering S.r.l. (Pisa, Italy), comprising a positive high voltage generator up to 40 kV and a rotating collector - the Starter Kit for aligned nanofibers configuration, with the HVG-CONT-LCD control unit.

Topics

Piezoelectric Nanofibers Single-Fiber Characterization Piezoresponse Force Microscopy Fiber Alignment

Materials

Poly(acrylonitrile) PVDF
Read the full publication
Back to blog