KNU Develops High-Performance Piezoelectric Device with a 12-Fold Reduction in Processing Time

2024-10-29

A research team led by Professor Gwi-il Park in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Kyungpook National University (KNU) has developed a high-performance piezoelectric device by introducing plasma treatment technology, which reduces the processing time by 12 times compared to the conventional heat treatment process.

The existing manufacturing technology of flexible piezoelectric devices mandatorily required a heat treatment process to enhance the crystallinity and performance of piezoelectric materials. But, the heat treatment process is time-consuming and possibly damage the material.

In this study, the research team introduced a plasma treatment process instead of the heat treatment process, enabling the fabrication of piezoelectric devices with high crystallinity and piezoelectric performance of piezoelectric polymer materials in a short time. Piezoelectric devices fabricated by treating polyvinylidene fluoride, a semi-crystalline polymer with piezoelectric properties, with plasma showed a 2.4-fold increase in voltage and a 3.8-fold increase in current. Additionally, the research team confirmed that the total processing time was reduced by 12 times from 120 minutes to 10 minutes, and there was no performance degradation even after 10,000 repeated bending cycles.

The developed piezoelectric device is expected to be used as a sensor for detecting vibrations caused by minute changes in flow rate by attaching it to the piping of a cooling water supply system.

Source: https://www.etnews.com/20241008000081