Nonlinear-Optical Piezoelectric Electrospun Nanofibers

This paper presents a nonlinear optical piezoelectric electrospun nanocomposite of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibers with embedded nanomaterial of poly {1-[p-(3’-carboxy-4’- hydroxyphenylazo) benzenesulfonamido]-1, 2-ethandiyl} (PCBS). PCBS of different weight ratios are added in-situ to the synthesized PVDF nanofibers. The generated nanofibers mats have been proved to possess both properties of piezoelectric response and nonlinear optical conversion due to the presence of both PVDF and PCBS, respectively. Innovatively, embedding PCBS within the PVDF nanofibers increases the piezoelectric response of the nanocomposite, compared to the case of neat PVDF nanofibers, at certain optimum weight concentrations of PCBS. This has been proved by different piezoelectric measurements at different applied forces and vibration frequencies, along with d33 coefficient measurements and supported by FTIR analysis of beta-sheets. Our results support the evidence of the coupling between the polarized diploes of PCBS and PVDF, which can enhance the overall piezoelectric response. Furthermore, the synthesized nanocomposite shows an optical second harmonic generation (SHG) at optimum concentration of added PCBS within the PVDF nanofibers of around 1 wt.%. The synthesized nonlinear optical nanocomposite of PVDF/PCBS can be multi-functionalized sensors/transducer membranes for biomedical and sensing applications.