Nanoengineered piezo triboelectric materials for nanoenergy harvesting

Abstract

The present civilizations rely on the use of portable devices for their day to day life activities and demand newlineon the use of uninterrupted energy sources for operation of these devices. Large sized batteries hinder newlinethe miniaturization in the and#57344;eld of self-powered devices. Self-powering of unmanned devices is necessary newlineto tackle the concerns related to the maintenance as well as the disposal of batteries. A solution to meet newlinethese energy requirements is to use energy harvesters based on the most versatile energy, mechanical newlineenergy, that can drive the low powered electronic devices sustainably when traditional energy sources newlinebecome unreachable. Hybrid energy technologies based on piezoelectric and triboelectric effects are newlinebeing widely utilized to harvest this environmental energy as a supplement for the energy needs of the newlinehuman race. newlineThe objective of the present research work is to fabricate hybrid nanoenergy harvester (Hy-ENG) newlinedevices using polymer nanocomposite materials by different coating techniques on electrode materials. newline newlineThe device conand#57344;gurations used in this research include insulator-insulator contact as well as metal- newlineinsulator contact. Polymers in pure, blended as well as composite forms are used as active energy newline newlinegeneration layers. Piezoelectric nanoparticles such as zinc oxide (ZnO) and strontium titanate (STO) newlineare synthesized, characterized and added in the polymer matrix to form polymer nanocomposites for newlineenergy harvesting applications. The composite prepared with micro droplets of water dispersed in the newlinepolymer matrix is also used for Hy-ENG by mimicking the cumulonimbus cloud which is a source of newlinelightning. The prepared polymer and polymer nanocomposite and#57344;lms are characterized for morphology, newlineand evaluated for its piezo-tribo characteristics. The electrical output performance of the devices, newlinecharging of commercial capacitor based on the generated electrical energy from these devices and use of newlinethese energy harvesters as real-time prototypes are also dealt with.