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Flexible Piezoelectric and Pyroelectric Polymers and Nanocomposites for Energy Harvesting Applications

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Polymer-Engineered Nanostructures for Advanced Energy Applications

Part of the book series: Engineering Materials and Processes ((EMP))

Abstract

Ferroelectric polymers are promising functional materials for energy harvesting applications, given their low stiffness, high flexibility, toughness, ease of modification to tailor properties, processability and low density. This chapter provides detailed description of the molecular structure, polymorphs and properties of ferroelectric vinylidene fluoride (VDF)-based fluoropolymers and related nanocomposites. The nature of the ferroelectric crystalline phase plays a key role in the piezo- and pyroelectric properties of the polymer‚ various methods to increase the content of the polar ferroelectric polymorphs in the polymers are discussed, such as copolymerization, addition of nanoparticles, nanoconfinement, electrospinning, and post-treatment.

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Acknowledgements

C.R. Bowen would like to acknowledge funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement no. 320963 on Novel Energy Materials, Engineering Science and Integrated Systems (NEMESIS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Warwick Manufacturing Group, International Institute for Nanocomposites Manufacturing (IINM), University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    Chaoying Wan

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Structures Centre, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK

    Christopher Rhys Bowen

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  1. Chaoying Wan
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Correspondence to Chaoying Wan or Christopher Rhys Bowen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Zhiqun Lin

  2. School of Chemistry & Materials Science, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan, Hubei, China

    Yingkui Yang

  3. School of Chemistry & Materials Science, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan, Hubei, China

    Aiqing Zhang

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Wan, C., Bowen, C.R. (2017). Flexible Piezoelectric and Pyroelectric Polymers and Nanocomposites for Energy Harvesting Applications. In: Lin, Z., Yang, Y., Zhang, A. (eds) Polymer-Engineered Nanostructures for Advanced Energy Applications. Engineering Materials and Processes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57003-7_13

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