Codename Red: An Organic Piezoelectric Material

Undergraduate #303
Discipline: Physics
Subcategory: Physics (not Nanoscience)

Judy Tran - California State University, San Bernardino

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Piezoelectric materials have a wide range of applications in technology due to their useful property of being able to convert mechanical stress into electrical energy and vice versa. Inorganic piezoelectric materials such as lead zirconium titanate (PZT) are currently the most widely used piezoelectric materials in consumer products, but these materials tend to contain biohazardous heavy metals. As a consequence, there has been an increasing interest in developing an organic piezoelectric material that is more cost-effective and biodegradable. Red is a salt of Croconic acid that was predicted to be an organic piezoelectric material and grown in collaboration with chemists at CSUSB, and our results support this prediction. This research aimed to verify Red’s piezoelectric properties by measuring for the piezoelectric coefficient, d33. The d33 describes the ratio of the strain between the y-axis and x-axis. Piezoelectric measurements were done by using a Radiant TM ferroelectric tester to apply a voltage to the sample and a Fotonic sensor to measure the displacement of the sample. The d33 measured for Red was 1×10-6 cm/kV. Further testing is being done to verify the repeatability of these results.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): This research was funded by NSF -CREST.

Faculty Advisor: Timothy Usher,