Agglomerated carbon nanotube-induced growth of piezoelectric 3D nanoarchitectures assembled from hollow 1D nanowires of poly (vinylidene fluoride) at high pressure

Abstract Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) intrinsically tend to bundle and/or aggregate, and various techniques were explored to improve the dispersibility of CNTs in polymer matrices during the preparation of a variety of CNT/polymer based composites. However, herein we report the entangling nature of CNTs can be utilized for the rapid formation of unique piezoelectric three dimensional (3D) nanoarchitectures of poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF). The controllable growth of the 3D nanostructures, assembled from hollow one dimensional (1D) PVDF nanowires, was achieved by the high-pressure crystallization of a binary CNT/PVDF based composite, in which CNT agglomerations were not destroyed during the fabrication process. This was attributed to the cooperation effect of the agglomerated CNTs served as hard-template and the physical interactions of macromolecular chains at high pressure as self-assembly driving forces. The present study provides a facile and effective approach to construct functional 3D nanostructures in situ, and the hybrid structures, consisting of CNTs and piezoelectric PVDF nanowires, may permit niche applications in a self-powering nanosystem that harvests its operating energy from the environment.