Designer Peptide‐PVDF Composite Films for High‐Performance Energy Harvesting

Abstract

Polymers and peptides have recently been considered as promising materials for piezoelectric energy harvesting because of their biocompatibility and enormous design possibility. However, achieving significant output voltages while meeting environmental safety requirements, low cost, and easy fabrication remains a major challenge. Herein, lipidated pseudopeptide incorporated poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) composite films are fabricated. Adding lipidated pseudopeptide (BLHA) increases the electroactive phase content, reaching the maximum for the 2 wt% composite film. The composite film containing 2 wt% BLHA manifests the highest dielectric constant and remnant polarization (P r ), among others. A piezoelectric energy harvesting device fabricated with this film generates open-circuit output voltages up to 23 V, five times amplified output compared to pure PVDF. To the best of our knowledge, this material is superior among the peptide-based piezoelectric energy harvesters reported in the literature. The device is flexible, durable, low cost, and sensitive to high and low pressures. It can power up multiple liquid crystal display panels when pressed with a finger. The non-covalent interaction between BLHA and PVDF is the reason behind the composites' improved piezoelectric response. Density functional theory calculations also support this notion.

Volumetric 3D‐Printed Piezoelectric Polymer Films

“…Therefore, much effort has been dedicated to increasing the 𝛽-phase yield in PVDF films, as well as to potential applications of piezoelectric 𝛽-phase PVDF. [4,[9][10][11][12][13] A challenge for PVDF piezoelectric applications is the lack of relevant fabrication protocols for industrial-scale production. In research laboratories, PVDF is commonly fabricated using dropcasting, spin-casting, electrospinning, or Langmuir-Blodgett, in combination with either mechanical or electrical stress in postprocessing steps to improve the 𝛽-phase yield.…”

“…Therefore, much effort has been dedicated to increasing the β‐phase yield in PVDF films, as well as to potential applications of piezoelectric β‐phase PVDF. [ 4,9 – 13 ]…”

Synergetic Improvement of Flexoelectric Coefficient in Liquid Crystal Embedded Flexible PVDF Polymer Composite for Energy Harvesting Applications

“…Various methods of harvesting energy from the environment have been developed over the years depending on the requirements of different electronic devices and their power consumption necessities. [2] Various energy harvesting methods such as piezoelectric, [3][4][5][6] triboelectric, [7][8][9] and thermoelectric [10,11] DOI: 10.1002/marc.202400148 recently gained much interest among the numerous other methods of harvesting non-conventional clean and green energy from various abundant sources for different device applications, such as the mechanical locomotion of the body and friction. These energy harvesting devices can efficiently power up micro and nanodevices in lots of modern-day applications effectively.…”

Macromolecular Architecture‐Dependent Polymorphous Crystallization Behavior of PVDF in the PVDF/γ‐BL System via Thermally Induced Phase Separation

“…PVDF has been extensively investigated due to its exceptional resistance to solvents, acids, alkalis, oxidation, and environmental conditions, making it highly regarded as a matrix material for polymer composites and as membrane material. [1][2][3][4][5][6] In the manufacturing of PVDF composites and membrane development, the process of phase inversion plays a key role in the preparation of microporous systems, which include nonsolvent-induced phase separation (NIPS) and thermally induced phase separation (TIPS). [7][8][9] As a result, TIPS has received increasing attention from researchers as an advanced method for membrane and PVDF composite preparation.…”