Piezoelectric properties of zinc oxide/iron oxide filled polyvinylidene fluoride nanocomposite fibers

Abstract

Piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENG) with flexible and simple design have pronounced significance in fabricating sustainable devices for self-powering electronics. This study demonstrates the fabrication of electrospun nanocomposite fibers from polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) filled zinc oxide (ZnO)/iron oxide (FeO) nanomaterials. The nanocomposite fiber based flexible PENG shows piezoelectric output voltage of 5.9 V when 3 wt% of ZnO/FeO hybrid nanomaterial is introduced, which is 29.5 times higher than the neat PVDF. No apparent decline in output voltage is observed for almost 2000 s attributed to the outstanding durability. This higher piezoelectric output performance is correlated with the β-phase transformation studies from the Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy and the crystallinity studies from the differential scanning calorimetry. Both these studies show respective enhancement of 3.79 and 2.16% in the β-phase crystallinity values of PVDF-ZnO/FeO 3 wt% composite. Higher dielectric constant value obtained for the same composite (three times higher than the neat PVDF) confirms the increased energy storage efficiency as well. Thus the proposed soft and flexible PENG is a promising mechanical energy harvester, and its good dielectric properties reveals the ability to use this material as good power sources for wearable and flexible electronic devices.

Enhancing the properties of PVDF/MFe2O4; (M: Co–Zn and Cu–Zn) nanocomposite for the piezoelectric optronic applications

“…It is well known that PVDF mainly have a synthetic semi crystalline polymer, and its b-phase and cphases are responsible for the piezoelectric power harvesting property [5].…”

“…The piezoelectric substances exhibit numerous potential applications in relation to diverse industries as computer, medical, automotive, consumer etc. [4] Ceramic piezoelectric materials have a great role in the field of sensors [5]. Although these materials have large relative permittivity, facilitate electrical tuning, they are tainted by defects such as low inherent breakdown strength, these materials are brittle which limits their applications in flexible or wearable devices.…”

“…Coupling between polymer and ceramic fillers nanoparticles gives a composite material with new properties. This modification related to in situ growth of b-crystalline phase within the nanocomposites which improve the dielectric and energy harvesting performance of the nanocomposite [5][6][7]. The increase in dipole-dipole interaction with the increase of the filler content leads to higher dielectric constant composite material [6,8,9].…”

Enhancing the properties of PVDF/ MFe2O4; (M: Co-Zn and Cu-Zn) nanocomposite for the Piezoelectric Optronic applications.

“…It is well known that PVDF mainly have a synthetic semi crystalline polymer, and its β-phase and γ-phases are responsible for the piezoelectric power harvesting property [5].…”

“…Coupling between polymer and ceramic llers nanoparticles gives a composite material with new properties. This modi cation related to in-situ growth of β-crystalline phase within the nanocomposites which improve the dielectric and energy harvesting performance of the nanocomposite [5] [6] [7]. The increase in dipole-dipole interaction with the increase of the ller content leads to higher dielectric constant composite material.…”