Design of New Piezoelectric Composites Using Nanocellulose

This research project focused on cellulose crystals as building blocks for the design and development of new low-density functional polymer composites. Although the piezoelectricity of cellulose has been predicted from its non-centrosymmetric crystal structure, it has not been measured accurately, nor has cellulose been properly exploited as a piezoelectric material. If it is proven, it could enable novel low-density electroactive materials capable of surpassing the performance of the best synthetic piezoelectric polymer such as polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF).