Ferroelectric‐Polymer‐Enabled Contactless Electric Power Generation in Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are considered as one of the most important renewable power sources for mobile electronic devices and various sensors in the Internet of Things era. However, their performance should inherently be degraded by the wearing of contact surfaces after long‐term use. Here, a ferroelectric polymer is shown to enable TENGs to generate considerable electricity without contact. Ferroelectric‐polymer‐embedded TENG (FE‐TENG) consists of indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes, a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer, and a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) polymer. In contrast to down‐ and non‐polarization, up‐polarized PVDF causes significantly large triboelectric charge, rapidly saturated voltage/current, and considerable remaining charge due to the modulated surface potential and increased capacitance. The remained triboelectric charges flow by just approaching/receding the ITO electrode to/from the PDMS without contact, which is sufficient to power light‐emitting diodes and liquid crystal displays. Additionally, the FE‐TENG can charge an Li‐battery with a significantly reduced number of contact cycles. Furthermore, an arch‐shaped FE‐TENG is demonstrated to operate a wireless temperature sensor network by scavenging the irregular and random vibrations of water waves. This work provides an innovative and simple method to increase conversion efficiency and lifetime of TENGs; which widens the applications of TENG to inaccessible areas like the ocean.

Matching the Directions of Electric Fields from Triboelectric and Ferroelectric Charges in Nanogenerator Devices for Boosted Performance

“…The performance of a TENG device is very different depending on whether a positive or negative voltage is applied for poling (Figure 2), regardless of the polymer used. This phenomenon of one polarization direction resulting in a larger impact than the other is widely reported before (Bai et al, 2014;Suo et al, 2016;Lee et al, 2016;Sutka et al, 2018;Lap cinskis et al, 2019;Kim et al, 2019;Huang et al, 2020); however, the explanation provided for that has been inaccurate. We argue that the observed difference can be explained by elementary match and mismatch between the directions of the electric field from the ferroelectric dipole moment and the dipole moment created by triboelectric charges.…”

“…Another possibility is the modification of surface or physicochemical properties of the triboelectric material Lap cinskis et al, 2019;Fan et al, 2014;Yun et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2016). The performance can be also enhanced by using ferroelectric polymer or composite films as the contacting surfaces (Bai et al, 2014;Seung et al, 2017;Suo et al, 2016;Chun et al, 2015;Yang and Daoud, 2017;Choi et al, 2017;Lee et al, 2016;Sutka et al, 2018;Lap cinskis et al, 2019;Kim et al, 2019;Huang et al, 2020). State-of-the-art performance of ferroelectric material-based TENG devices can be expected when the ferroelectric material layers on contacting sides of the device are inversely polarized ( Sutka et al, 2018;Lap cinskis et al, 2019).…”

Ferroelectric Materials Based Coupled Nanogenerators

“…Additionally, can light LEDs without charge storage (see Figure 8e). Kim et al [208] have reported a much simpler way to enhance TENG durability, by employing the concept of reduced contact number cycles in ferroelectric, PVD-based TENG, with ITO as the electrode and PDMS as an elastomer. They showed that the up-sided polarization (58 pm/V) of PVDF led to extremely fast charge accumulation and larger TE-outputs, when compared with a downside (36 pm/V) and non-polarized (1.1 pm/V) PVDF under contact state.…”

Preparation, Physical Properties, and Applications of Water-Based Functional Polymer Inks

“…Ferroelectric polymers are functional materials that possess spontaneous polarization that is switchable with an electric field [ 10 , 11 ]. This functionality has encouraged research directed to the use of ferroelectric polymers as active materials in sensors [ 12 ], non-volatile memory [ 9 , 13 ], and nanogenerators for energy harvesting [ 14 , 15 ]. Ferroelectric polymers have also been studied in combination with semiconducting polymers for potential applications such as low-voltage organic diodes [ 16 ], non-volatile memory [ 17 , 18 ], and organic solar cells [ 1 ].…”