Quantitative analysis of the impact of disorder on the structural and electrical properties of polymer fibers

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-2-2022

Department

Department of Biomedical Engineering; Health Research Institute

Abstract

Quantifying disorder in physical systems can provide unique opportunities to engineer-specific properties. Here, we apply a methodology based on the approach pioneered by Bragg and Williams for metal alloys to quantify the disorder characterizing polymer fibers including polyaniline (PANI), polyaniline-polycaprolactone (PANI-PCL), and polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF). Both PANI and PVDF possess electrical properties such as conductivity and piezoelectric response that find a wide range of applications in energy storage and tissue engineering. On the other hand, the mechanical properties of polymer fibers can be tuned by varying the concentration of PANI and PCL during synthesis. Here, we demonstrate that it is possible to control the amount of disorder characterizing a fiber, which provides a route to engineering desired values for specific material properties. The resulting measure of disorder is shown to have a direct relationship to Young’s modulus, band gap, and specific capacitance values. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].

Publication Title

MRS Advances

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