Enhanced electromechanical coupling in Pb(ZrTi)O₃ piezoelectric composite via poly(vinylidene fluoride‐trifluoroethylene) clamping

Abstract This study presents an advanced two‐step hot‐pressing process for fabricating the 1‐3 type Pb(ZrTi)O₃/poly(vinylidene fluoride‐trifluoroethylene) (PZT/P(VDF‐TrFE)) piezoelectric composite sheets, demonstrating significant potential for nondestructive evaluation and information storage applications. The engineered columnar architecture within these composites induces a two‐phase clamping effect, which, upon polarization, facilitates the elongation of PZT and suppresses its lateral vibrations, thus enhancing the electromechanical coupling effect as verified by COMSOL simulations. A notable dielectric constant of 2200 at 100 Hz and a coupling coefficient of 0.725 was achieved with specific geometric modifications to the PZT/P(VDF‐TrFE) sheets. These findings suggest that P(VDF‐TrFE) as a polymer matrix exceeds the performance of conventional epoxy matrices, offering a novel approach to designing 1‐3 type piezoelectric composites. Highlights P(VDF‐TrFE) effectively drives the elongation strain of internal PZT columns. COMSOL simulation clarifies the clamping effect of piezoelectric P(VDF‐TrFE). PZT/P(VDF‐TrFE) shows a higher k_t of 0.725 than that of pure PZT samples.