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Polyvinylidene difluoride trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) has received widespread application in flexible electronics and biomedical devices but is limited in its sensing modalities to piezoelectricity and pyroelectricity. The addition of optically or magnetically active nanoparticles could provide additional sensing modalities in the same element, which could drive miniaturization of such sensors. Europium barium titanate (EBTO) is one such optically active nanoparticle that could add functionality to such a nanocomposite. In this work, multifunctional nanocomposites of PVDF-TrFE and EBTO are successfully synthesized and characterized for their material and electronic properties. The nanocomposite in this work is the first known multifunctional nanocomposite with PVDF-TrFE and a fluorescent nanoparticle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyvinylidene fluoride- trifluoroethylene (PVDF–TrFE) has been utilized widely for pressure sensing, healthcare monitoring, and energy harvesting. In order to integrate piezoelectric elements into flexible thin film electronics, researchers have studied depositing PVDF–TrFE via printing methods. Screen printing, in particular, has been utilized by several groups but printing methodology and characterization procedures have varied significantly between works. In this work, a simple, low-cost, flexible method is described. The resulting films are characterized for their piezoelectric character and temperature tolerance. The printed films have a piezoelectric coefficient comparable to previous work (26.24 pC/N) and demonstrate no meaningful degradation in piezoelectric character up to 110C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]