The rise in temperature in VDF/TrFE copolymer due to the polarization reversal

The polarization reversal in ferroelectric material produces heat. Vinylidene fluoride/trifluoroethylene copolymer has a large remanent polarization as well as large coercive field and thus may be heated by repetitive polarization reversal. Thus, it is important to estimate the temperature change in the sample. We used the same material as a detector of the temperature by forming the polymer film on both sides of a glass substrate with electrodes. The film on one side was poled and thus it gave voltage response due to pyroelectricity when the temperature changed. We measured the pyroelectric response as a function of time due to the repeated polarization reversal in the sample on the other side. By comparing the simulated response of heat diffusion across the glass substrate, we estimated the temperature change of sample due to the polarization reversal and compared the result with the theoretical heat generation.