High performance piezoelectric energy harvesting based on PVDF-SnS2 nanocomposite

Abstract

This study focusses on fabricating flexile piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs) based on polyvinyl fluoride (PVDF) – tin diselenide (SnS2) composite. 2D-SnS2 was synthesized via simple hydrothermal method and was mixed with PVDF to form the nanocomposite solution, which was then drop casted to form flexible thin films. The phase purity of prepared SnS2 powder was confirmed and characterized using X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Different weight percentages of SnS2 were added to bare PVDF to study the role of weight percentage on the output performance of the PENGs. The enhanced beta (β) phase of PVDF-SnS2 based PENGs was studied using XRD analysis, where a rise in the intensity of β-phase peak is observed, as the SnS2 concentration (by wt. %) is increased. In order to analyse the piezoelectric outputs, the generation of piezo voltage (open circuit, Voc) and piezo current (short circuit, Isc) were recorded and compared. The Voc and Isc of fabricated PENGs composing different weight percentages of SnS2 in PVDF, were reported to have higher Voc and Isc as compared to bare PVDF based PENGs. The trends of increasing β-phase and hence, increasing piezoelectric output on increasing the wt. % of SnS2 were observed. Thus, the PENG fabricated from PVDF thin film with maximum SnS2 concentration, i.e., 7 wt% shows maximum beta phase enhancement and hence, maximum piezoelectricity.