Multifunctional Properties of Polyvinylidene-Fluoride-Based Materials: From Energy Harvesting to Energy Storage

Organic ferroelectrics are increasingly important due to their complementary properties to classical, inorganic ferroelectrics. Flexibility, chemical resistance, scalability, high breakdown fields, and biocompatibility are attractive for many applications like energy harvesting and storage. The most known energy harvesting methods are piezoelectric, pyroelectric, and triboelectric. Here, we apply the well-established material's figures of merit to five polyvinylidene-fluoride-based compositions ranging from ferroelectric to relaxor-like behavior to emphasize the importance of several key material parameters contributing to the maximal power output of energy harvesting devices. Afterward, we discuss the possibility of the same functional material storing the output energy for the development of scalable multifunctional devices.

Automated summary

Organic ferroelectrics, with their complementary properties to classical, inorganic ferroelectrics, are becoming increasingly important in various applications such as energy harvesting and storage due to their flexibility, chemical resistance, scalability, high breakdown fields, and biocompatibility. This study applies the well-established material's figures of merit to polyvinylidene-fluoride-based compositions of different ferroelectric behaviors to emphasize the key material parameters influencing the maximal power output of energy harvesting devices. Furthermore, the possibility of using the same functional material for energy storage in scalable multifunctional devices is discussed.