Piezoelectricity of wet drawn cellulose electro-active paper

Piezoelectricity is one major actuating mechanism of cellulose-based electro-active paper (EAPap). In order to increase the piezoelectricity of EAPap, wet drawing method with different stretching conditions was introduced in the fabrication process of cellulose film. Structural and mechanical characterizations of wet drawn and stretched cellulose film were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), high voltage electron microscope (HVEM) and mechanical pulling test setup. From the piezoelectric charge constant measurement, it was revealed that the performance of EAPap was sensitive to the drawing ratio of cellulose film and its material orientation. We found that optimized alignment direction along the cellulose fibers and drawing ratio during wet drawing process were very critical parameters to improve electro-mechanical properties of EAPap. Also we conclude that the simple wet drawing method is a very effective fabrication method to enhance the mechanical stiffness and the piezoelectricity of EAPap. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.