Piezoelectric fiber composites with polydopamine interfacial layer for self-powered wearable biomonitoring

Doping polymers with ceramic nanofillers is a widely-adopted routine for developing high-performance nanocomposites. However, improving the interaction between the nanofillers and the polymer matrix for an enhanced composite performance remains highly desired in the community. Herein, we systematically investigated the barium titanate doped polyvinylidene fluoride (BTO/PVDF) piezoelectric nanocomposites in a fiber form through comprehensive phase-field simulation and detailed experimental characterization. Both experimental and theoretical results indicated that the introduction of 2.15 vol% polydopamine (PDA) coating on the BTO nanoparticles could remarkably promote the local all-trans conformation and modulus match at the nanofillers-polymer interface, giving rise to the maximum piezoelectric charge coefficient and piezoelectric voltage coefficient as well as mechanical stiffness. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the PDA modification, a polydopamine modified nonwoven piezoelectric (PMNP) textile was constructed based on the composite fiber, which showed outstanding sensitivity and long-term stability for wearable biomonitoring, including limb motion detection, facial expression identification, respiratory monitoring, and human-machine interfacing. This work endows insight into the fundamental mechanism of the interfacial coupling effect in polymer composites for the development of high-performance wearable textile bioelectronics. [Display omitted] •Polydopamine modified nonwoven piezoelectric (PMNP) textile was developed.•The mechanism was studied via phase-field simulation and detailed characterization.•2.15 vol% PDA coating maximizes the piezoelectric coefficient and β phase content.•Facial emotion identification and human-machine interaction was enabled by PMNPs.