Melt Electrowriting of Poly(vinylidene Fluoride-Co-Trifluoroethylene)

Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-co-TrFE)) is an electroactive polymer with growing interest for applications in biomedical materials and flexible electronics. In this study, a solvent-free additive manufacturing technique called melt electrowriting (MEW) has been utilized to fabricate well-defined microperiodic structures of P(VDF-co-TrFE). Melt electrowriting of the highly viscous polymer melts was initiated using a heated collector at temperatures above 120 °C and required remarkably slow collector speeds below 100 mm/min. This contribution shows electrohydrodynamic processing of fibers with micrometer resolution into defined structures with an important electroactive polymer.