Improvement of Piezoelectric Performance of the CNT/PVDF Composite Film by Enhancing Conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS Electrodes

In this paper, we fabricated flexible CNT/PVDF (carbon nanotube / polyvinylidene fluoride) piezoelectric composite device with flexible poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) : polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) conducting polymer electrode using spray coating method. We tried to improve the piezoelectric performance from the CNT/PVDF composite film by enhancing electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS electrodes. Electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS electrode was enhanced by dipping it into the EG (ethylene glycol) solvent. Changes of chemical composition of the PEDOT:PSS electrode were analyzed with the dipping time by XPS (x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) in terms of oxygen (O1s). Finally, Piezoelectric performances such as output voltage and current were measured with the dipping time. We found that enhanced electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS electrodes resulted in improvement of the piezoelectric performance of the CNT/PVDF films.