Piezoelectric characteristics of PVA/DL-alanine polycrystals in d(33) mode

In this study, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-mixed DL-alanine (PVA/DL-alanine) polycrystals are fabricated, and their piezoelectric characteristics in the d33 mode are investigated. The d33 piezoelectric coefficients of the PVA/DL-alanine polycrystals are found to increase with an increase in the weight ratio of DL-alanine, and the PVA/DL-alanine polycrystal composed of PVA and DL-alanine in a weight ratio of 1:3 exhibits a d33 of similar to 5 pC/N. The piezoelectric characteristics of the PVA/DL-alanine polycrystals are discussed in terms of the crystal structure by employing scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses. To confirm the piezoelectric performance of the polycrystals, the piezoelectric voltages of a piezoelectric device composed of a single layer of ZnO thin filmand heterostructured devices consisting of a layer of PVA/DL-alanine polycrystal and a ZnO thin film layer are measured and compared. This study presents PVA/DL-alanine polycrystals as a potential piezoelectric material for bio-friendly piezoelectric-device applications.

Automated summary

In this study, the piezoelectric characteristics of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-mixed DL-alanine (PVA/DL-alanine) polycrystals in the d33 mode were investigated. The d33 piezoelectric coefficients increased with an increase in the weight ratio of DL-alanine, and the PVA/DL-alanine polycrystal with a weight ratio of 1:3 exhibited a d33 of approximately 5 pC/N. The crystal structure of the PVA/DL-alanine polycrystals was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction.