Synthesis of boron and rare earth stabilized graphene doped polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanocomposite piezoelectric materials

Boron and rare earth stabilized graphene (Gr) doped polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibers were synthesized by electro‐spinning method. The structural and morphological properties of the nanofibers were characterized. The morphological and structural behavior of the samples containing different amounts (0%, 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.5%) of Gr and different doping material such as boron (B) and rare earth elements (REEs), were found to be different from each other. Scanning electron micrographs (SEM) of the synthesized nanofibers exhibit that, the addition of the Gr into pure PVDF caused a marked decrease in the diameters of nanofibers. So much so that the average diameter of pure PVDF nanofibers was about 500 nm while the average diameters of the Gr doped nanofibers was merely 58 nm. To the energy dispersive X‐ray (EDX) Analysis, suitable and specified elements were determined for each samples. The X‐ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show that crystallinity of the nanofibers increased with the increasing content of Gr. In addition, the XRD peaks β crystalline phase in G‐doped PVDF was more intense than the ones in pure PVDF and the most intense one was observed at 0.3% G‐doped PVDF. Boron doping contrary to Gr addition result in the increase of α phase. Differential thermal analyses (DTAs) data showed that Gr and B doping increased the melting point of PVDF materials. In addition, the dielectric properties of these samples showed that the value of ε’ increased with increasing the rate of Gr. Thus, the P‐G0.3% and P‐G0.5% materials have the largest dielectric constants. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:3623–3633, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers