Flexible ZnO–Cellulose Nanocomposite for Multisource Energy Conversion

Abstract

Materials with the ability to harness multiple sources of energy from the ambient environment could lead to new types of energy-harvesting systems. It is demonstrated that nanocomposite films consisting of zinc oxide nanostructures embedded in a common paper matrix can be directly used as energy-conversion devices to transform mechanical and thermal energies to electric power. These mechanically robust and flexible devices can be fabricated over large areas and are capable of producing an output voltage and power up to 80 mV and 50 nW cm(-2) , respectively. Furthermore, it is shown that by integrating a certain number of devices (in series and parallel) the output voltage and the concomitant output power can be significantly increased. Also, the output voltage and power can be enhanced by scaling the size of the device. This multisource energy-harvesting system based on ZnO nanostructures embedded in a flexible paper matrix provides a simplified and cost-effective platform for capturing trace amounts of energy for practical applications.

Novel piezoelectric paper based on SbSI nanowires

“…The rise-time of the electromotive force is related to the shock front propagation time through the ferroelectric sample thickness (Shkuratov et al 2010). Values of functional parameters (generated voltage, current, and power) of cellulose/SbSI nanogenerators presented in this article are hard to compare to data reported for piezoelectric papers (Kumar et al 2011;Liao et al 2014;Zhang et al 2016). Different researchers applied various excitation methods (i.e., bending, pressing, and ultrasonic waves).…”

“…They reported applicability of this piezoelectric paper as a strain sensor. Kumar et al (2011) demonstrated that nanocomposite consisting of ZnO nanostructures embedded in a common paper matrix can be directly used as energy-conversion devices to transform mechanical energy to electric power (with output voltage and power up to 80 mV and 50 nW/cm 2 , respectively). Mahadeva et al (2014) developed hybrid piezoelectric paper through fiber functionalization that involves anchoring nanostructured barium titanate (BaTiO 3 ).…”

Zn5(OH)8Cl2·H2O sheets formed using cellulose as matrix via microwave-assisted method and its transformation to ZnO

“…Until now, the preparation of ZnO crystals has been reported using cellulose as template by the strategies such as electrospinning and solvothermal method [13][14][15][16].…”

Metal-free and non-fluorine paper-based generator

“…However, those paperbased system required external power supply [16][17][18][19], which were restricted the applications due to their size, flexibility and/or environmental impact. Hence, the paper-based generator is desirable to develop as the alternate [20][21][22][23].…”