While piezoelectric materials are the focus of considerable research interest, little effort has been expended on developing fundamentally new designs. With a wide range of varied applications, each type of piezoelectric material must have a unique set of design paradigms. By doping poly(dimethylsiloxane) polymer foams with with polar, small organic molecules, we have developed a robust, highly versatile system of flexible piezoelectric energy harvesters with high piezoelectic response. These foams are easy to produce and tailor, but the lack of chemical attachment of the polar dopants results in poor stability. While one potential approach to improving stability is by directly bonding polar molecules into a cross-linked polymer backbone, other intrinsically stable systems can be imagined. One such system is a self assembled monolayer of polar peptides. These bio-friendly materials can be easily formed on gold substrates without the need for the electrical poling required of traditional piezoelectric materials. We demonstrate that the piezoelectric properties of such a device can be easily tuned by altering the peptide sequence and that the device is stable over the course of several months. Carefully tailoring the chemical design of materials shows strong potential for creating new, stable piezoelectric materials with high piezoelectric response.

From foams to peptides: Developing new piezoelectric materials from the ground up

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.