Influence of POSS as a nanofiller on the structure, dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of PVDF

In this paper, different amounts of fluoropropyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (FP-POSS) were incorporated into the poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) matrix by the solvent evaporation method. The scanning probe microscope (SPM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results indicated that FP-POSS nanofiller exhibited good miscibility with PVDF matrix, and morphology of the poled composites showed a smooth region influenced by the polarization. As for the dielectric properties, the dielectric contents reduced with increasing amount of POSS under the same frequency. The dielectric loss reduced when a small amount of filler was added, but with the addition of FP-POSS over 5%, the dielectric loss of composites increased. With respect to the piezoelectric and ferroelectric behavior, although the corresponding contents reduced as the wt% of FP-POSS increased, the composites still have good piezoelectric properties and typical ferroelectric behavior.