β-phase enriched piezoelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) films/fibers

are often prepared by high-energy costing methods, including mechanical

stretching, high-electric field or electrospinning. In this study, PVDF piezoelectric

microfibers, for the first time, were prepared by microfluidic spinning technology.

The β-phase enriched PVDF microfibers with various diameters could

be easily obtained inside the microfluidic channel due to the mass transfer

induced phase inversion of the inner PVDF solution. The influence of diameter

of the fibers, PVDF concentration of the inner phase and water content of the

outer phase on the β-phase content and crystallinity degree of the obtained

fibers was studied in detail. The obtained β-phase enriched fiber was weaved

into meshes. Flexible piezoelectric fabrics were then developed based on these

meshes, and further used as in-situ and real time human motion monitoring.

This simple and effective strategy provides a promising microfluidic spinning

technique toward the development of functional microfibers and wearable piezoelectric

sensors, which may also give some implies for the industrial wetspinning

of piezoelectric PVDF fibers in the future.