Conducting polyaniline decorated in-situ poled Ferrite nanorod-PVDF based nanocomposite as piezoelectric energy harvester

Abstract

PVDF-metal oxide based piezo-nanocomposite is an promising substitute of flexible nanogenerator. Herein, a ternary nanocomposite system Zinc Ferrite nanorod/Polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF)/Polyaniline (PANI) nanochains was presented as alternative energy harvesting material. The inherent problem of low short-circuit current and high internal resistance of the nanocomposite was minimised by introducing a third phase cost-effective conducting supplementary filler, PANI nanochain.PANI assist to overcome the local dielectric dissimilarity by easy formation of conduction pathways via delocalization of π-electrons present in the benzene ring and reduce the internal resistance of composite. Besides, it serves the role of dispersing agent by floating nanofillers throughout the volume and improves the homogeneity of filler distribution. Additionally, PANI reinforces composite with respect to stress accumulation and modulates the release behaviour by entangling with nanofillers by means of Van Der Waals force and helps to stabilize the polar PVDF. This lead to an improvement in electro-mechanical response and piezo-response behaviour of nanocomposite. The nanocomposite exhibits a ∼42 V ac open circuit voltage and short circuit current density ∼0.85 μA/cm2with an overall increase in power density 35% compare to its binary metal-oxide/PVDF nanocomposite counterpart in response to single finger tapping and releasing. The generated power was utilized to illuminate twenty six number of red LEDs without any external energy storage unit. Also, the nanocomposite could charge up a commercial capacitor (10 μF) within 115 s which can be used for alternative powersource in self-powered devices and sensors.