BiFeO₃ is an interesting multiferroic material with potential use in sensors and transducers. However, the high coercive field and low dielectric strength of this material make the poling process extremely difficult. Poling becomes a lot easier if the ceramic particles are incorporated in a non-conductive polymer with comparable dielectric properties. In this work, unstructured composites consisting of BiFeO₃ particles in a non-piezoactive PVDF terpolymer matrix are made with a ceramic volume fraction ranging from 20% to 60%. The highest piezoelectric charge and voltage constant values (d₃₃ = 31 pC/N and g₃₃ = 47 mV m/N) are obtained for a BiFeO₃-PVDF terpolymer composite with a volume fraction of 60%. The Poon model is chosen to analyse the volume fraction dependence of the dielectric constant while the modified Yamada model is used to analyse the piezoelectric charge constant data. It is concluded that the maximum possible piezoelectric constant for bulk BiFeO₃ can be as high as 56 pC/N.

A new concept of the formation of charge transfer (CT) complexes between an intrinsically electron-donating conjugated microporous polymer and a small molecule acceptor is reported. Spirobifluorene-based mesoporous organic polymers with high porosity and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area are synthesized by the Suzuki-coupling reaction of spirobifluorene and pyrene monomers. The simple doping of the synthesized mesoporous, electron-rich, conjugated polymer with 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane as an acceptor leads to efficient CT complexation in the electron-donating mesoporous spaces. This results in a high-speed synthesis (within 5 s), thermally stable compound (up to about 200 °C), and good control of the concentration of donor–acceptor pairs in the CT complex.

Polymer-piezoceramic composites have drawn a lot of attention for sensor and energy harvesting applications. Poling such materials can be difficult due to the electric field getting mostly distributed over the low dielectric constant matrix. During this process, the electrical matrix conductivity plays a vital role. This work shows how two different polymer materials, loaded with various piezoelectric ceramic fillers, have very different poling efficiencies simply due to their intrinsic matrix conductivity. It is shown how temperature increases the matrix conductivity, and hence, increases the piezoelectric charge constant of the composites. By choosing the proper matrix material under the proper conditions, piezoelectric composites can be poled at electric fields as low as 2 kV mm^-1, which is identical to that of bulk ceramic fillers. In addition, the matrix conductivity can be altered by aging the composites in a high humidity atmosphere, which can increase the piezoelectric charge constant in similar fashion. This is a simple method to increase the matrix conductivity, and hence the piezoelectric charge constant, without the need to add any conductive fillers into the composites, which increase complexity, and leads to an increased dielectric losses.

BiFeO₃ is a multiferroic material with the perovskite structure which is promising for use in sensors and transducers. Single phase production of BiFeO₃ remains a challenge, however. In this study, the optimal calcination temperature to obtain close to single phase powder was determined to be 750°C. The sintering temperature of 775°C was also found to obtain high density ceramics (≈ 95 % of theoretical density). It is shown that off-stoichiometry of bismuth oxide in precursors effects the content of secondary phase. Impedance spectroscopy indicates that the content of secondary phases has a large effect on the electrical conductivity BiFeO₃.