3D BaTiO₃ Flower Based Polymer Composites Exhibiting Excellent Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Properties

Abstract

Piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs) with good flexibility and high outputs have promising applications in harvesting mechanical energy and powering electronics. In this study, a synthesis of hierarchical BaTiO3 flowers (BTFs) and their filling into the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix to obtain composites with excellent energy harvesting properties is reported. The BTF‐based PENG possesses a voltage of 260 V, a current of 50 µA, and a power of 1728 µW under a compression of 50 N at 3.5 Hz, which output power is two orders higher than that of polymer composites filled with BT nanoparticles. Simulation indicates that the high local stress at petals of BTFs is the main reason for the enhanced performances. The PENG shows good durability under 5000 cycles and lights up 58 commercial light emitting diodes and a display. The PENG generates 30–100 V in harvesting human motions of hand slapping and foot stepping and ≈50 V in harvesting the sport kinetic energy of basketball bouncing. This research presents a BTF‐based PENG with significantly enhanced energy harvesting performances for applications in micro/nanoenergy systems.

Lead-Free Bi3.15Nd0.85Ti3O12 Nanoplates Filler-Elastomeric Polymer Composite Films for Flexible Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting

“…The piezoelectricity of the composites is enhanced by increasing the addition of inorganic BNdT NPs, which results in the increase in output voltage. On the other hand, further increasing the inorganic fillers will deteriorate the flexibility of the composites and the efficiency of strain transfer, leading to the decrease in the generated voltage [27]. The piezoelectric output of the BNdT NPs/PDMS f-PEHs were measured on a purpose-built platform in the repetitive tapping mode.…”

“…The flexible PEHs (f-PEHs) fabricated with composites of inorganic piezoelectric nanostructures dispersed in polymer matrix exhibit high electrical output and high flexibility [16][17][18]. Various piezoelectric nanostructures, such as nanoparticles [19][20][21][22], nanowires [23][24][25][26] nanoflowers [27], nanofibers [28], and nanocubes [29] etc., have been used as fillers to disperse into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) [30] or polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymers [31], etc. It has also been found that the morphology of the fillers has an important influence on the output performance of the f-PEHs [22,29,[32][33][34], because the high dimensional piezoelectric fillers enhance the continuity of fillers and also the transferring efficiency of stress from the matrix to the active inclusions [27], which thus improves the output performance of the PEHs [19].…”

“…Various piezoelectric nanostructures, such as nanoparticles [19][20][21][22], nanowires [23][24][25][26] nanoflowers [27], nanofibers [28], and nanocubes [29] etc., have been used as fillers to disperse into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) [30] or polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymers [31], etc. It has also been found that the morphology of the fillers has an important influence on the output performance of the f-PEHs [22,29,[32][33][34], because the high dimensional piezoelectric fillers enhance the continuity of fillers and also the transferring efficiency of stress from the matrix to the active inclusions [27], which thus improves the output performance of the PEHs [19]. Zhang et al [16] reported in a groundbreaking work that a voltage of 65 V and a current of 75 nA were obtained by filling PDMS composite material with interconnected PZT foam.…”

“…Zhang et al [16] reported in a groundbreaking work that a voltage of 65 V and a current of 75 nA were obtained by filling PDMS composite material with interconnected PZT foam. Gang et al [27] obtained an even higher output open-circuit voltage of 260 V and a high short-circuit current of 50 µA in barium titanium trioxide (BaTiO 3 ) flower filled PDMS composite PEHs. Furthermore, the size of the piezoelectric fillers should significantly influence the piezoelectric output performance of the f-PEHs since the piezoelectric coupling coefficients depend on the size of the nanostructures [22,35].…”

Piezoelectric Nanogenerators Derived Self‐Powered Sensors for Multifunctional Applications and Artificial Intelligence

“…reported the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composites filled with hierarchical BaTiO 3 flowers (BTFs). [ 37 ] The BTF‐based PENG obtained a V OC of 260 V, an I SC of 50 µA, and a power of 1728 µW, which showed significantly enhanced energy scavenging properties compared with that of polymer composites filled with BT nanoparticles (NPs). They analyzed the simulated electric potential and stress under 50 N pressure through finite element analysis on PENGs.…”