Toward High Power Generating Piezoelectric Nanofibers: Influence of Particle Size and Surface Electrostatic Interaction of Ce-Fe2O3 and Ce-Co3O4 on PVDF

Hemalatha Parangusan; Deepalekshmi Ponnamma; Mariam Al Ali AlMaadeed

doi:10.1021/acsomega.9b00243

Toward High Power Generating Piezoelectric Nanofibers: Influence of Particle Size and Surface Electrostatic Interaction of Ce-Fe₂O₃ and Ce-Co₃O₄ on PVDF

ACS Omega. 2019 Apr 4;4(4):6312-6323. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.9b00243. eCollection 2019 Apr 30.

Authors

Hemalatha Parangusan¹, Deepalekshmi Ponnamma¹, Mariam Al Ali AlMaadeed²

Affiliations

¹ Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar.
² Materials Science & Technology Program (MATS), College of Arts & Sciences, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar.

Abstract

Development of flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) is a real challenge for the next-generation energy-harvesting applications. In this paper, we report highly flexible PENGs based on poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/2 wt % Ce-Fe₂O₃ and PVDF/2 wt % Ce-Co₃O₄ nanocomposite fibers. The incorporation of magnetic Ce-Fe₂O₃ and Ce-Co₃O₄ greatly affects the structural properties of PVDF nanofibers, especially the polymeric β and γ phases. In addition, the new composites enhanced the interfacial compatibility through electrostatic filler-polymer interactions. Both PVDF/Ce-Fe₂O₃ and PVDF/Ce-Co₃O₄ nanofibers-based PENGs, respectively, produce peak-to-peak output voltages of 20 and 15 V, respectively, with the corresponding output currents of 0.010 and 0.005 μA/cm² under the force of 2.5 N. Enhanced output performance of the flexible nanogenerator is correlated with the electroactive polar phases generated within the PVDF, in the presence of the nanomaterials. The designed nanogenerators respond to human wrist movements with the highest output voltage of 0.15 V, for the PVDF/Ce-Fe₂O₃ when subjected to hand movements. The overall piezoelectric power generation is correlated with the nanoparticle size and the existing filler-polymer and ion-dipole interactions.