High-performance and robust triboelectric nanogenerators based on optimal microstructured poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) polymers for self-powered electronic applications

Abstract

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) which are one of the notable renewable energy harvesting devices have been demonstrated for various types of energy harvesting, sensing, and self-powered electronic applications. However, enhancing the electrical output performance by optimizing the TENG parameters and reducing its processing cost is still major issues to be resolved for practical and industrial utilization. Herein, we demonstrated a cost-effective and high-performance TENG using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and microstructure aligned polyvinyl alcohol (MS@PVA) polymers as negatively and positively polarized triboelectric materials, respectively. The PVDF film developed by a facile and cost-effective ultra-sonication process and its high electroactive β-phase can be utilized to enhance the electric dipole-dipole interactions in the film, and also lead to an increase in its piezoelectric coefficient. Besides, the PVA film was produced by a simple solidification method and the microstructures on its surface are developed by merely corresponding inverse patterns on commercially available sandpaper. The resultant TENG with the PVDF and MS@PVA polymers exhibited maximum peak-to-peak open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, and instantaneous output power density values of 230 V, 6 μA, and 3.1 W/m2, respectively. Ultimately, such a high electrical output generated by the TENG was employed to drive portable electronic devices such as displays and light-emitting diodes.