Enhancing piezoelectric properties of bacterial cellulose films by incorporation of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles

Abstract Low-cost and highly sensitive piezoelectric sensors were fabricated from bacterial cellulose (BC)/MnFe2O4 nanocomposite films via a co-precipitation method, followed by hot-pressing. MnFe2O4 nanoparticles were homogeneously distributed in the BC structure. The piezoelectric sensitivity measurements in the normal mode showed that the pristine BC film exhibited a sensitivity of ∼5 pC/N, whereas this value was increased to 23 pC/N for the composite film, which is comparable to the PVDF reference film. In the bending mode, the piezoelectric response increased to 25 pC/N and 57 pC/N for the BC film and the composite film, respectively. Moreover, the piezoelectric sensitivity was significantly enhanced using carbon tape electrodes attached directly to the films instead of sandwiched electrodes. This produced a sensitivity of greater than 50 pC/N for the MBC nanocomposite film in the normal mode measurement. Our work demonstrates the potential of using MBC composite films as inexpensive and highly sensitive flexible piezoelectric sensors.