Interrelation between Pyroelectricity and Residual Polarization in Thin Films of a Ferroelectric Polymer with Nanoscale Structure

Authors S.N. Fedosov , A.E. Sergeeva
Affiliations

Department of Physics and Materials Science, Odessa National Academy of Food Technologies, 112, Kanatna St., 65039 Odesa, Ukraine

Е-mail snfedosov@ukr.net
Issue Volume 11, Year 2019, Number 2
Dates Received 07 November 2018; revised manuscript received 02 April 2019; published online 15 April 2019
Citation S.N. Fedosov, A.E. Sergeeva, J. Nano- Electron. Phys. 11 No 2, 02020 (2019)
DOI https://doi.org/10.21272/jnep.11(2).02020
PACS Number(s) 77.80.Fm, 77.22.Ej, 77.55.Kt, 77.84. – s
Keywords Pyroelectricity, Nano-scale structure, Ferroelectric polymers, Polarization (6) , Polyvinylidene fluoride, PVDF (5) .
Annotation

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), a typical ferroelectric polymer having a nanoscale structure, has prospects for widespread application in manufacturing pyroelectric sensors and transducers. In this paper, the relationship between pyroelectricity in PVDF thin films and the residual ferroelectric polarization is investigated on the basis of several experimental series. The pyroelectric coefficient is measured by the Collins dynamic method by analyzing the magnitude and shape of the voltage arising after irradiating a metal electrode with a light pulse. The residual polarization is measured by processing the plots of electrical signal resulting from application of high polarizing and switching voltage pulses to the sample. The wide ranges of pulse duration from 0.5 (s to 50 s, covering 8 orders of magnitude, and the applied electric field with a strength from 40 to 200 MV·m – 1 are investigated. It has been found that the pyroelectric signal is directly proportional to the residual polarization and does not depend on the presence of the space charge. This result allows to obtain information on the state of polarization in PVDF by simply measuring its pyroelectric coefficient. The features of the pyroelectric behavior of PVDF films are analyzed and explained.

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