Matthieu Fricaudet1*, Samir Salmanov2, Maja Koblar2, Tadej Rojac2, Katarina Žiberna2, Mojca Otoni?ar2, Thierry Martin1, Delong He1, Brahim Dkhil1, Pierre-Eymeric Janolin1, Andraž Bradeško1
1Université Paris-Saclay, CentraleSupélec, CNRS-UMR8580, Laboratoire SPMS, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
2Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
* email: matthieu.fricaudet@centralesupelec.fr
 
In any environment, there is a lot of free energy that can be harvested given the right extraction methods. This energy can be found in various forms such as vibrations, radiations, heat and is often difficult to extract through conventional methods because of small heat gradients, low amplitudes vibrations, etc. Among possible materials, ferroelectrics offer a rich toolbox as they can scavenge multiple energy sources given their piezoelectric or pyroelectric properties. Here we specifically focus on PVDF-based polymers as they can be synthesized using simple and low cost processing technics and, more importantly, exhibit low dielectric constant which is beneficial for better energy harvesting. We investigate piezoelectric, pyroelectric, triboelectric as well as energy storage responses of (1-x)PVDF-xTrFE (with x=0.2, 0.25, 0.3, 0.45) and PVDF-TrFE-CFE co- and ter-polymers, respectively, as well as composites made with these materials as matrices using tape casting. These responses are explained by their structure and microstructures we investigated using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and dielectric measurements. Such study allow to select the best materials depending on the type of available energy one would like to harvest and serves as guide for the design of new compositions with higher responses for their future integration in devices to convert the free and available energy into usable electrical energy.