Abstract
The need for sustainable technologies to address environmental pollution and energy crisis is paramount. Here we present a novel multifunctional nanocomposite, free standing film by combining piezoelectric molybdenum sulphide (MoS2) nanoflower with poly vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer, which can harness otherwise wasted mechanical energy for useful energy generation and/or water purification. The unique MoS2 nanoflower morphology is exploited to render the whole nanocomposite piezo active. A number of features are demonstrated to establish potential practical usage. Firstly, the nanocomposite is piezoelectric and piezocatalytic simultaneously without requiring any poling step (i.e. self-poled). Secondly, the self-poled piezoelectricity is exploited to make a nanogenerator. The nanogenerator produced >80 V under human finger tapping with a remarkable power density, reaching 47.14 mW cm−3. The nanocomposite film is made by simple solution casting, and the corresponding nanogenerator powers up 25 commercial LEDs by finger tapping. Last but not the least, the developed films show efficient, fast and stable piezocatalytic dye degradation efficiency (>90% within 20 min) against four different toxic and carcinogenic dyes under dark condition. Reusability of at least 10 times is also demonstrated without any loss of catalytic activity. Overall, our nanocomposite has clear potential for use as self-powered sensor and energy harvester, and in water remediation systems. It should potentially also be deployable as a surface mounted film/coating in process engineering, industrial effluent management and healthcare devices systems.
Highlights
Bioaccumulation of emerging inorganic and organic contaminants such as toxic dyes, pharmaceuticals, and drugs in wastewater effluents, natural environment and drinking waters has grown at an alarming rate in recent times and presents a huge challenge for water reuse industry [1,2]
The mechanism of self-poling is discussed in detail and the functionality is established by demonstrating that our films can be used in energy-harvesting applications, such as the so called nanogenerators for self-powered sensing systems [22].To demonstrate the dual-use feature, our hybrid nanocomposite films are shown to exploit vibration induced electromechanical coupling to promote remarkable energy harvesting capability as well as catalytic degradation of potentially toxic and carcinogenic dyes like, Acridine Orange [23], Eosin Y [24], Ethidium Bromide [25] and Rhodamine B [26]
Addition of MoS2 nanoflowers significantly promotes nucleation of polar electroactive β-crystals in poly vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film which is indicated by a sharp single peak at 2θ = 20.5° ((110), (200)) and absence of α phase reflections
Summary
Bioaccumulation of emerging inorganic and organic contaminants such as toxic dyes, pharmaceuticals, and drugs in wastewater effluents, natural environment and drinking waters has grown at an alarming rate in recent times and presents a huge challenge for water reuse industry [1,2]. The ROS generated by mechanical actuation of piezoelectric materials can be efficiently used to piezocatalytically oxidize and degrade the toxic and/or carcinogenic dyes and microbes in water from textile, chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries [10,11,12,13,14]. These piezoelectric materials can be activated when subject to ambient vibrations which are abundant in daily life. Maity et al [28], showed nanogenerator and sensing performance with salt exfoliated bulk MoS2 and electrospun
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