Vapour phase deposition of highly crystalline self-poled piezoelectric nylon-11

Thin films of highly crystalline short-chain nylon-11 were fabricated by means of vapour phase deposition. Nylon-11 could be thermally evaporated without much structural degradation and for the first time the piezoelectric properties of vapour phase deposited nylon-11 were characterized. It was found that the films crystallize in a polar phase with a crystalline fraction as high as 70% and even form in a self-poled state. The results show that thermal evaporation is a straightforward alternative to the common melt or solution processing as a fabrication procedure for piezoelectric nylon-11 films. (paper)