SEM imaging and XPS characterization of doped PVDF fibers

¹ Brno University of Technology, Technická 2848/8, 616 00 Brno, Czech Republic
² The Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Constantin Daicoviciu Street, no. 15, Cluj-Napoca, 400020, Cluj county, Romania
³ Central European Institute of Technology BUT, Purkyňova 123, 612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
⁴ Dagestan State University, Makhachkala, St. M. Gadjieva 43-a, Dagestan Republic 367015, Russia
⁵ Ural State University of Economics, Russian Federation

^* Corresponding author: stefan_ta@yahoo.com

Abstract

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is one of the most promising electroactive polymers; it exhibits excellent electroactive behaviours, good biocompatibility, excellent chemical resistance, and thermal stability, rendering it an attractive material for biomedical, electronic, environmental and energy harvesting applications. This work aims to further improve its properties by the inclusion of powders of piezoactive materials. Polyvinylidene fluoride was formed by electrospinning into fibres with a thickness of 1.5-0.3 µm and then examined in a scanning electron microscope. The work offers a description of the current procedure in the preparation of samples and their modification for examination in a scanning electron microscope, characterizes the individual components of doped fibres and deals with specific instruments used for various analytical methods. The work contains a theoretical introduction to the analytical methods to which the samples will be further subjected, such as energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The obtained excellent properties of doped PVDF could be used in the design of sensors.