Alkyl-C₆₀ liquid electrets as deformable mechanoelectric generators

Abstract

Special attention is being paid to the potential applicability of various soft electronics in deformable/wearable devices. These devices must be constantly connected to energy sources to ensure their uninterrupted operation....

Alkyl–π Functional Molecular Gels: Control of Elastic Modulus and Improvement of Electret Performance

“…Alkylπ FMLs have an electroactive π-moiety wrapped with insulating alkyl chains, making them suitable for storing electrostatic charges inside the liquid and functioning as liquid electrets. [18][19][20] This study revealed that gelation improves electret performance and eliminates the need for supporting materials in MEG devices.…”

“…Regarding the change in V oc over the course of days, the gel device maintained a higher V oc than the liquid one (Figure S31). When we utilize liquid materials for electrets, [18,20] we must impregnate them into the nonwoven supporting fabric to prevent short circuits due to contact between the electrodes (Figure S30b). In contrast, there is no contact between electrodes even without the supporting fabric in the case of gels with improved elasticity compared to liquids, and it showed a vibration power generation function of 64 � 5 % V oc compared to the device with supporting fabric (Figure 4f and Table S4).…”

“…Attempts have been made to apply alkyl-π FMLs to practical devices such as microfluidic light-emitting diodes [16,17] and stretchable mechanoelectric generator-electret devices (MEGs). [18][19][20][21] Liquid fluidity has the advantage of shape adaptability; however, there are concerns about liquid leakage and bleeding from a support membrane with adsorbed liquid. Furthermore, improvements such as increased charge retention capability and elimination of the need for support materials to immobilize liquid electrets are required, especially for MEG applications.…”

“…Among the alkyl-π FMLs, C 8 C 12 PL is suitable for an electret application because a relatively wide π-conjugated unit is entirely covered with insulating alkyl chains (Figure S27a and Table S3), as reported in the electretization of alkyl-porphyrin [20] and alkyl-fullerene liquids. [18] Since bleeding causes a problem when forming MEGs with alkylπ FMLs, [20] fabrication with the gel state is advantageous for constructing highly durable MEGs. First, we evaluated the charge retention capacity.…”

Facile preparation and charge retention mechanism of polymer-based deformable electret

“…Solid state materials have conventionally been employed for electrets as an electric field needs to be fixed within the material. However, recent works have focused on creating soft electrets 5–13 to enable their use in wearable devices or as actuators. These materials can be achieved using soft polymers such as elastomers.…”