Full-fiber piezoelectric sensor by straight PVDF/nanoclay nanofibers

Straight polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF)/nanoclay nanofibers with enhanced piezoelectric properties were fabricated by a near distance-wheeling electrospinning (NWS) method. In this method, the fibers were electrospun under centimeter scale spinning distance, high electric field and high mechanical stretching. The XRD and FT-IR spectra showed that the oriented beta crystal form was dominant in the straight composite fiber, which may be caused by the cooperative effect of NWS and nanoclay. The electrospun fibers were in-situ assembled into full-fiber sensors. The full-fiber sensor based on the straight PVDF/nanoclay fibers showed notable piezoelectric properties with good response speed and reproducibility, which can be applied on intelligent clothes. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.