Recent advances in flexible PVDF based piezoelectric polymer devices for energy harvesting applications

Abstract

Energy harvesting is one of the most promising research areas to produce sustainable power sources from the ambient environment. Which found applications to attain the extensive lifetime self-powered operations of various devices such as MEMS wireless sensors, medical implants and wearable electronic devices. Piezoelectric nanogenerators can efficiently convert the vastly available mechanical energy into electrical energy to meet the requirements of low-powered electronic devices. Among the piezoelectric materials, poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and its copolymers are extensively studied for the development of energy harvesting devices. Due to the outstanding properties such as high flexibility, ease of processing, long-term stability, biocompatibility makes them a promising candidate for piezoelectric generators. Nevertheless, compared to piezoceramic materials, PVDF based generators produce lower piezoresponse. Over the last decades, tremendous research activities have been reported to endorse the performance of PVDF based energy harvesters. This review article mainly focused on the recent progress in the performance improvement with processing methods, piezoelectric materials, different filler loading. The new developments and design structures will lead to an increase in piezoelectricity, alignment of dipoles, dielectric properties and subsequently enhance the output performance of the device. Electronic circuits play a vital role in energy harvesting to efficiently collect the developed charge from the device. Here, we have proposed a detailed description of the electronic circuits. Also, in the application part deals with the recent progress in flexible, biomedical and hybrid generators based on PVDF polymers.

Stretchable nanofibers of polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF)/thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) nanocomposite to support piezoelectric response via mechanical elasticity

“…Among all piezoelectric polymers, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) films have shown the highest piezoelectric performances to date 19 – 21 . Due to the polar crystalline nature of PVDF, its ability to produce large voltages with low forces has made it favorable for piezoelectric applications 20 , 22 , 23 . The piezoelectric property of PVDF mainly depends on its β-phase, one of its four crystalline phases 22 , 24 .…”

Directional, Low‐Energy Driven Thermal Actuating Bilayer Enabled by Coordinated Submolecular Switching

“…Designing an electronic circuit for low‐power generation is a research topic itself. [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ] For subsequent publications, we will evaluate different circuit designs and further examine energy harvesting efficiency using the bilayer with optimized material properties. PVDF‐based thermal energy harvesting has previously been explored, but the ability to convert low‐grade thermal energy into electricity by employing the piezoelectric (primary) and pyroelectric (secondary) effect sets this system apart from existing systems.…”

Interaction between Electromechanical Fields and Carriers in a Multilayered Piezoelectric Semiconductor Beam

“…Piezoelectric materials can create an electric field due to deformation or create deformation due to an electric field. The inherent mechanicalelectrical coupling effect makes piezoelectric materials widely used for applications such as energy harvesters, sensors, memories, and batteries [1][2][3][4]. Piezoelectric materials can be dielectrics and semiconductors.…”