Interface-Dominated Time-Dependent Behavior of Poled Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride–Trifluoroethylene)/Barium Titanate Composites

Composites in which particles of ferroelectric ceramic phase are randomly dispersed in a polymeric matrix are of interest because of flexibility, conformability, and ease of processing. However, their piezoelectric properties are rather low, unless very high volume fractions of ceramics are used. This brings agglomeration and porosity issues due to the large mismatch between the surface energies of the ceramics and of the polymer. Particle surface modification is a common approach for better dispersion; however, it may bring other effects on the properties of the composites, which are usually concealed by the huge improvement in performance due to the more homogenous microstructure. In this work, we compared poly(vinylidene fluoride–trifluoroethylene)/barium titanate composites containing 15 vol.% and 60 vol.% of pristine ceramic particles or particles modified with an aminosilane or a fluorosilane. Similar morphology, with good particle dispersion and low porosity, was achieved for all composites, owing to an efficient dispersion method. The materials were poled with two different poling procedures, and the piezoelectric coefficient d(33), the relative permittivity, and the poling degree of barium titanate were followed in time. We highlighted that, although similar d(33) were obtained with all types of particles, the nature of the particles surface and the poling procedure were associated with different charge trapping and influenced the evolution of d(33) with time.