Piezoelectric, Flexoelectric and Electrostrictive Effects in Polymers: From Material Synthesis to Practical Applications
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2020) | Viewed by 9416
Special Issue Editor
Interests: elaboration and characterization of flexible electroactive polymers for multi-physics coupling; applications: integration of functional materials in complex radiating systems (tunable polymer-based antennas) and energy harvesting/sensing/actuating devices
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The piezoelectric effect is among the most exploited transduction mechanisms for multiscale electromechanical applications, such as actuation and sensing (e.g., pressure/curvature sensing). Despite the piezoelectric coefficients of polymeric materials like the reference polymer polyvinylidene fluoride PVDF and related copolymers being lower than those of their rigid oxide-based counterparts (ceramics, single crystals), soft organic films remain attractive owing to their specific intrinsic assets like easier and low cost processability, lightweight, conformability, and flexibility. In addition, their low acoustic and electrical impedances are advantageous for developing biocompatible applications such as wearable sensory devices and smart textiles and possibly low frequency ambient mechanical energy harvesting.
However, two other electromechanical couplings present in all dielectric polymers are also of interest, even if relatively understudied in comparison with piezoelectricity: electrostriction and flexoelectricity, which may provide in specific cases an alternative route for electric field activated actuation and strain (gradient)-induced electric polarization, respectively, especially at small (nano/micro) scales.
Thus, the aim of this Special Issue is to provide a current state of the art of the so-called electroactive polymers presenting intrinsic electromechanical coupling, in view of developing the next generation of polymer-based shapeable mechanical transducers. To that end, cutting-edge research articles presenting (but not limited to) recent innovative aspects in the topic are solicited in the following fields:
- Synthesis of new electroactive polymer formulations and related composites (particulate, multilayer, compositionally graded, etc.);
- Structural characterization; strategies for enhancing electromechanical response;
- Fabrication methods of polymer films;
- Computational studies;
- Modeling and experimental determination of the structure–property relationships;
- Evaluation of the actuation/sensing/energy harvesting abilities of the electromechanically coupled polymers;
Integration of polymers in practical applications.
Prof. Benoit Guiffard
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Practical purposes
- Structure-property relationships
- Polymer film
- Piezoelectricity
- Electrostriction
- Flexoelectricity
- Synthesis
- Modeling
- Actuation
- Sensing
- Energy harvesting
