Piezoelectric Response of Pristine PVDF Thin-film for Sensing in Sports Applications

There is a growing popularity in the usage of PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) for various applications such as sensors, actuators, nanogenerators and energy harvesters. This is because, they exhibit notable piezoelectric, pyroelectric and ferroelectric characteristics. Apart from this, they provide excellent biocompatibility, flexibility, mechanical and chemical stability and low toxicity in comparison to other widely used ceramic material such as PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate). However, the conventional fabrication methods of PVDF film requires complex methods, expensive equipments and several post treatments such as corona poling, stretching, annealing, quenching, etc. In this work, a simple, affordable, cost effective and less time-consuming procedures are used to fabricate a PVDF piezoelectric sensor. PVDF thin film was synthesized using simple solution casting method and aluminum foils were used as electrodes. With a load of 45 g, the proposed sensor generated 27 mV output piezoelectric voltage. The proposed sensor has potential to be used as hand grip analysis in various sports.