Temperature dependence of polarization fatigue in ferroelectric vinylidene fluoride and trifluoroethylene copolymer films

In this study, we report the temperature dependence of polarization fatigue in ferroelectric copolymer films. Studies on temperature effect show a non-monotonic change of fatigue rate with increasing temperature. At temperature below similar to 90 degrees C, fatigue endurance is weakened at higher temperature; while, at temperature above similar to 90 degrees C, experimental data indicate that the higher the temperature, the lower the fatigue rate. X-ray diffraction spectra reveal little changes of characteristic peak before and after polarization fatigue. On the basis of the hypothesis of charge-injection-induced fatigue, we propose a possible explanation of our experimental results. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.