Full-fiber piezoelectric sensor by straight PVDF/nanoclay nanofibers

Abstract Straight polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF)/nanoclay nanofibers with enhanced piezoelectric properties were fabricated by a “near distance-wheeling” electrospinning (NWS) method. In this method, the fibers were electrospun under centimeter scale spinning distance, high electric field and high mechanical stretching. The XRD and FT-IR spectra showed that the oriented β crystal form was dominant in the straight composite fiber, which may be caused by the cooperative effect of NWS and nanoclay. The electrospun fibers were in-situ assembled into full-fiber sensors. The full-fiber sensor based on the straight PVDF/nanoclay fibers showed notable piezoelectric properties with good response speed and reproducibility, which can be applied on intelligent clothes.