Biomechanical and Acoustic Energy Harvesting from TiO₂ Nanoparticle Modulated PVDF Nanofiber Made High Performance Nanogenerator

Abstract

An integrated platform made with a piezoelectric nanogenerator (NG) is designed to convert daily human activities and acoustic vibration into useable electrical energy. The titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) are playing a significant role as external fillers in poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) electrospun nanofiber that improves the overall performance of the NG. It effectively enhanced the piezoelectric β-phase content (16% higher F (β)) and mechanical (148% increment of tensile strength) properties of composite PVDF nanofiber. The superior integration of NG has been demonstrated to generate electricity from a human gait. The acoustic sensitivity and energy conversion efficiency are found to be 26 V Pa–1 and 61%, respectively, which are superior in comparison to the reported results. By scavenging the mechanical energy, NG is capable of charging up a 1 μF capacitor; for example, ∼20 V is within 50 s that ensures its ability to power up commercial LED tape and a LCD screen. Thus, in this work, a high performance piezoelectric NG is presented that has potential application in the health care sector and robotics area, in particular for use as a self-powered system.