Aluminum impregnated zinc oxide engineered poly(vinylidene fluoride hexafluoropropylene)‐based flexible nanocomposite for efficient harvesting of mechanical energy. (13th September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pratihar, Shewli; Kar, Epsita; Sen, Shrabanee
• Is Part Of: International journal of energy research. Volume 46:Number 15(2022)
• Page Start: 23839
• Page End: 23856
• Publication Date: 2022-09-13
• Subjects: dielectric -- ferroelectric -- green energy harvester -- piezoelectric nanogenerator energy storage; Power resources -- Periodicals; Power (Mechanics) -- Periodicals; Power resources -- Research -- Periodicals; 621.042
• DOI: 10.1002/er.8682
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0363-907X

Abstract

Summary: Confronting the depletion of fossil fuel energy as well as pollution generated from chemical batteries, associated with the increasing number of electronic equipment and the internet of things, results in a high requirement of lightweight, low cost, sustainable, and durable power devices. Currently, a flexible and self‐powered piezoelectric energy harvester (PZEH) is a suitable alternative, which may be easily integrated with small electronics to realize real‐time sustainable energy generation. Therefore, a novel PZEH has been fabricated at room temperature (30°C) using Al‐doped ZnO (Al@ZnO) incorporated poly(vinylidene fluoride‐hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF‐HFP) nanocomposites. Al@ZnO enables nucleation of electroactive phase within PVDF‐HFP (10PALZO) exhibited polarity at a much higher fraction (F[EA] >90%) compared to neat PVDF‐HFP (F[EA] = 63.8%). Piezoelectric energy harvesting capability of the device has been investigated under gentle repeated human finger tapping. Optimized Al@ZnO‐PVDF‐HFP composite (with 10 wt% loading)‐based PZEH delivered a high value of open‐circuit output voltage ~22 V. Such high output value infers a good energy conversion efficiency of the device. For further enhancement of the performance of the device, the 10PALZO nanocomposite was placed under a high electric field of 2.4 MVcm −1 resulting in an open circuit output voltage of ~26 V. In addition to that, the proposed nanocomposite exhibits a good energy storage efficiency (10PALZO‐P) which further enhanced to 111.2 μJcm −3 (at 1 Hz) after poling under an electric field 2.4 MVcm −1 . This increment in the output value is due to the improved polarization induced by Al@ZnO within the PVDF‐HFP matrix. These results highlight that the filler can efficiently maximize the device performance thereby developing new efficient energy harvesting materials. Abstract : Fabriacted piezoelctric energy harvesting device with various applications such as capacitor charging, LED lightening and height monitoring.