High output triboelectric nanogenerator based on PTFE and cotton for energy harvester and human motion sensor

Recently, a novel mechanical energy harvesting method named triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is reported, and it has aroused great repercussions in the academic fields. But, the complex preparation process still limits its wide application. In this paper, the cotton film was used as the triboelectric material to fabricate a novel wearable TENG (W-TENG). The polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film and cotton film play the role of triboelectric pair. The W-TENG can be used to harvest low-frequency mechanical energy in our environment, especially for human body mechanical energy, and then convert them to electrical energy. In addition, the cotton coated with conductive ink plays the role of conductive material for TENG. The V_oc and I_sc of W-TENG can reach 556 V and 26 μA, respectively. As for the maximum power density of W-TENG, it can arrive at 0.66 mW/cm². Also, a combined W-TENG was proposed to improve the electrical output. Moreover, the W-TENG can play the role of human motion sensor for human walking posture monitoring. This will open up a new path for the preparation of high output TENG at low cost, and promote the TENG devices in the field of sports monitoring.     

Electric power generation using vibration of a polyurea piezoelectric thin film

An energy harvesting system is proposed, in which mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy through the piezoelectric effect of a polymer polyurea film on the device. Electrical energy harvesting methods that use piezoelectric elements have been reported by several groups, and lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is predominantly employed as the piezoelectric material. An energy harvesting device with a polyurea thin film formed through vapor deposition polymerization with 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanete (MDI) and 4,4′-diamino diphenyl ether (ODA). The conversion efficiency from mechanical to electrical energy was calculated using finite elemental analysis (FEA) of the cantilever configuration. Higher conversion efficiency was obtained using a thinner and shorter cantilever configuration with increased resonance frequency of the device. Experiments were conducted using an electric power generation device with a 3 μm thick polyurea thin film attached to a 0.1-mm-thick, 18-mm-long beryllium copper cantilever. Vibration in the vertical direction, which induces the bending vibration on the cantilever, was applied to the device and the output voltage was measured by connecting load resistances. The output power was measured with a change in the load resistance from 10 kΩ to 10 MΩ, and an optimum output was obtained at 1 MΩ, which corresponds to the value calculated using FEA. The conversion efficiency was improved by changing the cantilever length and an efficiency of 0.233% was obtained with a 4-mm-long cantilever.     

Facile and low-cost synthesis of flexible nano-generators based on polymeric and porous aerogel materials

Triboelectric nano-generators (TE-NGs) can be utilized as a power supply for wireless systems, sensors, and operators. In this paper, new flexible TE-NGs that use sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), poly dimethyl siloxane (PDMS), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), poly (4,4′-oxydiphenylene-pyromellitimide) (KAPTON) films and also sugar as a piezoelectric material were developed and are reported. Also, the outputs of NGs made by linear power under a periodic pressure of ~ 0.2 MPa at a frequency of 3 Hz showed that the highest output of NGs are related to PDMS–KATTON, PDMS, PVDF–KAPTON, PVDF, CMC NGs, respectively. It has been also observed that NGs connected in series to each other have a higher output than paralleled NGs so that their voltages increase at higher frequencies. Besides, a significant point is that the NGs are made in a low-cost, affordable, and environmentally-friendly route, which is a superior characteristic with respect to the rest of the NGs.     

基于织构表面的摩擦静电发电机制备及其输出性能研究

摩擦电纳米发电机(TENG)是基于摩擦生电和静电感应复合原理将机械能转换为电能的一种新型能源获取方式. 本文采用模板法制备了几种不同参数的聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)微圆柱结构, 并组装成TENG, 实验研究了接触区表面积、外加载荷对TENGs输出性能的影响. 结果表明, 圆形微柱阵列的存在有效提高了TENG的作用面积及电输出性能, 相同载荷下, 电输出随微柱间距离减小而增加, 在间距为15 μm、载荷为5 N时, 输出的平均开路电压和短路电流分别为88 V 和15 μA, 是同等条件下、微柱间距为50 μm电输出的1.5倍以上; 电输出随载荷增加呈准线性增加, ANSYS软件模拟载荷作用下PDMS微圆柱织构的变形行为, 结果表明, 压力作用下, 微圆柱主要发生压缩变形, 基底的变形导致微柱与上电极之间产生侧向摩擦, 从而产生更多电荷, 提升了电输出性能.     

Optically driven actuators using poly(vinylidene difluoride)

Optically driven actuators have a feature of a non-contact method supplied by light energy. A new method is proposed with three poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF) cantilevers as the legs and a polymer film as the body. The PVDF cantilevers are coated with silver on one surface. When one side of the cantilever is irradiated by a laser beam, an electric field is produced along a cross-section of the cantilever by the pyroelectric effect and a mechanical displacement occurs by the piezoelectric effect. Its response time and its generated force are measured experimentally. Two types of optically driven actuators using PVDF film are proposed to move using different characteristics.     

Preparation and electroactive properties of a PVDF/nano-TiO2 composite film

In the present study, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/nano-TiO₂ electroactive film was prepared by coating a substrate with an acetone/DMF solution, which was evaporated at a high temperature (110 °C). The crystallisation behaviour, dynamic mechanical properties and electroactive properties of this PVDF/nano-TiO₂ electroactive film were investigated. The cross-section and surface of the film were observed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that the film containing the PVDF β phase, the desired ferroelectric phase, was obtained by crystallising the mixed solution of nano-TiO₂ and PVDF at 110 °C, while the film containing the α phase was obtained from the crystallisation of the pure PVDF solution at the same temperature. It was found that the storage modulus, the room-temperature dielectric constant and the electric breakdown strength of the composite films were much higher than those of a pure PVDF film. TiO₂ improved the mechanical properties and electroactive properties of the film. The results indicate that PVDF/nano-TiO₂ composite films can be applied to the fabrication of self-sensing actuator devices.     

Study of the optoelectronic and piezoelectric properties of ZrO2 doped PVDF from quantum chemistry calculations

In this study, we have evaluated the optoelectronic and piezoelectric properties of doped PVDF. The electronic structures and the linear and non-linear optical properties of ZrO2-doped PVDF were calculated by adopting the LDA approximations for the exchange-correlation potential in the DFT method integrated in Gaussian 09. Optoelectronic parameters and ground state molecular geometry were calculated using B3LYP functional and LanL2DZ as the basis. We chose the calculation with the B3LYP functional because it is a relatively inexpensive and it is precise method to predict molecular structures, energies and frequencies. In this work, some optical parameters and constants such as refractive index, electrical susceptibility, dipole moment, average polarizability and hyperpolarizability, phase velocity have been calculated. Dielectric constants, ionization potentials, electronic affinities, electronegativities, hardness and flexibility were also calculated. Finally, the piezoelectric properties such as the piezoelectric coefficient and the pyroelectric coefficient are evaluated. The calculated electronic structures show that virgin PVDF, hybrid molecules PVDF/2ZrO2 and PVDF/3ZrO2 have an E_gap less than 3 eV. On the other hand, the hybrid PVDF/ZrO2 molecule is a good dielectric and therefore a good piezoelectric nanocomposite because its E_gap is 5.89 eV greater than 3 eV. Finally, the results show that the hybrid molecules PVDF-2ZrO2 could have potential applications not only as piezoelectric materials but also as semiconductor components, nonlinear optical materials and possible building materials for molecular electronics and photonic devices.     

磁悬浮式电磁-摩擦复合生物机械能量采集器

能量采集技术已经成为智能终端领域的一项关键技术,关于人体机械能采集方式也有大量的研究.针对人体机械能采集的应用需求,本文提出一种基于磁悬浮结构的电磁-摩擦复合式能量采集器.该能量采集器以磁悬浮结构作为核心部件,具有结构简单、感应灵敏、输出功率高的优点.在10 MΩ的外接负载时,两组摩擦发电单元输出功率分别为0.12 mW和0.13 mW;在1kΩ外接负载时,两组电磁发电单元的输出功率分别为36 mW和38 mW.复合能量采集器通过电容储能后,电容器可以输出8 V电压,且输出信号为持续的直流信号,可以为计步器提供持续的能量供给,支撑计步器正常工作.设计的复合能量采集器对于可穿戴电子设备自供电工作模式的实现具有重要意义.     

Field emission, morphological and mechanical properties of variety of diamond-like carbon thin films

The effect of nitrogen incorporation and sandwich titanium and copper layers, on field emission, morphological and mechanical properties of diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films is explored. The introduction of foreign element (N₂) and sandwich Cu and Ti layers changed the amorphous morphology to nanostructured, reduced the stress, enhanced the hardness (except N₂ incorporated DLC film) and improved the field emission (except Ti/DLC bilayer) of modified DLC films. The associated versatile electrical and mechanical properties of modified DLC film made it a material of great utility in the development of field emission display panels and also lead to its application as a hard and protective coating on cutting tools, automobile parts etc. It is important to mention that DLC-based electronic materials may replace currently used soft electronic materials (such as Si) due to their enhanced stability under high energy radiation.     

共晶键合与减薄技术的压电能量采集器（英）

采用微硅 锆钛酸铅（Si-PZT）悬臂梁结构并在悬臂梁末端附加镍质量块,构成可以工作于低频环境（小于1 000 Hz）的微压电能量采集器,一种利用压电效应将环境振动能转换为电能的器件。利用金薄膜作为中间层的共晶键合技术和PZT研磨减薄技术制备了微压电悬臂梁结构,PZT减薄实验最好结果为减薄至8 m。镍质量块（2 mm2 mm0.6 mm）采用微电铸工艺制备。通过对硅片与块材PZT的共晶键合工艺与PZT减薄技术的研究,制备出总厚度约为71 m的Si-PZT悬臂梁结构,其中硅梁厚约为47 m,PZT梁厚约为24 m。制备的微压电振动能量采集器样品的测试结果表明:在谐振频率为950 Hz,1.0g加速度激励条件下,其交流输出峰值电压可达958 mV。     

A high output triboelectric nanogenerator integrated with wave-structure electrode for football monitoring

In recent years, the development of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) technology has made great progress. However, most of the work focuses on the improvement of triboelectric materials and the optimization of device structure. In this work, we introduced a novel triboelectric nanogenerator integrated with wave structure electrode (W-TENG). Compared to the TENG with traditional flat plate electrode, the W-TENG with wave structure electrode can achieve higher output performance. The maximum short-circuit current (I_sc), transfer charge, and open-circuit voltage (V_oc) of 2.56 μA, 29 nC, and 74 V were obtained at 300 N. Correspondingly, the instantaneous output power of W-TENG illustrates the maximum value of 0.94 mW at 6 Hz. In addition, the output voltage signal of W-TENG can clearly reflect the different postures in football, and the W-TENG can perform real-time football monitoring. This mechano-electrical energy harvester and the corresponding self-powered monitor can promote the intelligent sports development.     

Superhydrophobic poly(vinylidene fluoride) film fabricated by alkali treatment enhancing chemical bath deposition

Based on the lotus effect principle, the superhydrophobic poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) film was successfully prepared by the method of alkali treatment enhancing chemical bath deposition. The surface of PVDF film prepared in this work was constructed by many smooth and regular microreliefs. Oxygen-containing functional groups were introduced in PVDF film by treatment with aqueous NaOH solution. The nano-scale peaks on the top of the microreliefs were implemented by the reaction between dimethyldichlorosilane/methyltrichlorosilane solution and the oxygen-containing functional groups of PVDF film. The micro- and nano-scale structures, similar to the lotus leaf, was clearly observed on PVDF film surface by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). The water contact angle and sliding angle on the fabricated lotus-leaf-like PVDF film surface were 157° and 1°, respectively, exhibiting superhydrophobic property and self-cleaning property.     

Realization of enhanced sound-driven CNT-based triboelectric nanogenerator,utilizing sonic array configuration

Triboelectric nanogenerators have been emerged as the most promising mechanical energy harvesters, during last few years. Here, a sonic triboelectric nanogenerator with 7-fold enhanced output power is reported, in which carbon nanotubes are utilized to increase the electrode's effective surface area. To improve the efficiency we have taken advantage of acoustic wave localization in a sonic array. For this purpose, first we have studied an array of periodic acoustic scatterers by simulation. Then, we have designed a 1-D phononic crystal consisting of five steel slabs standing in air medium, which leads to resonance of incident acoustic wave at f = 4.34 kHz. We implemented the design, but replaced the middle scatterer by triboelectric nanogenerator. An enhancement factor of about 4 has been measured for the output voltage of the sonic nanogenerator at f = 4.24 kHz, when it is embedded in the sonic array. Also, power enhancement factor of 7-fold has been achieved (P_out≈4 μW/m²), benefiting from the applied sonic cavity. The measured resonance frequency and enhancement factor are in acceptable agreement with the simulation results. The presented enhanced energy harvesting configuration proposes a compact and low cost structure, which allows parallel energy harvesting, and seems promising for realizing sonic harvesters.     

The strong piezoelectricity in polyvinylidene fluroide (PVDF)

Polymers have been playing an important role already for a long time in electronic engineering as dielectrics. Recently a search has been made for polymers with unusual properties: organic semiconductors or photoconductors, electrets, and polymeric piezo — and pyroelectrics have been developed. And now, polyvinylidene fluroide (PVDF), a new piezoelectric film material is being produced on an industrial scale.^1,2 In this article, recent developments and applications of piezoelectric polymers are surveyed.     

Mechanics of flexible and stretchable piezoelectrics for energy harvesting

As rapid development in wearable/implantable electronic devices benefit human life in daily health monitoring and disease treatment medically, all kinds of flexible and/or stretchable electronic devices are booming, together with which is the demanding of energy supply with similar mechanical property. Due to its ability in converting mechanical energy lying in human body into electric energy, energy harvesters based on piezoelectric materials are promising for applications in wearable/implantable device's energy supply in a renewable, clean and life-long way. Here the mechanics of traditional piezoelectrics in energy harvesting is reviewed, including why piezoelectricity is the choice for minor energy harvesting to power the implantable/wearable electronics and how. Different kinds of up to date flexible piezoelectric devices for energy harvesting are introduced, such as nanogenerators based on Zn O and thin and conformal energy harvester based on PZT. A detailed theoretical model of the flexible thin film energy harvester based on PZT nanoribbons is summarized, together with the in vivo demonstration of energy harvesting by integrating it with swine heart. Then the initial researches on stretchable energy harvesters based on piezoelectric material in wavy or serpentine configuration are introduced as well.     

The influence of different doping elements on microstructure, piezoelectric coefficient and resistivity of sputtered ZnO film

ZnO film is attractive for high frequency surface acoustic wave device application when it is coupled with diamond. In order to get good performance and reduce insertion loss of the device, it demands the ZnO film possessing high electrical resistivity and piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃. Doping ZnO film with some elements may be a desirable method. In this paper, the ZnO films undoped and doped with Cu, Ni, Co and Fe, respectively (doping concentration is 2.0 at.%) are prepared by magnetron sputtering. The effect of different dopants on the microstructure, piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃, and electrical resistivity of the film are investigated. The results indicate that Cu dopant can enhance the c-axis orientation and piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃, the Cu and Ni dopant can increase electrical resistivity of the ZnO film up to 10⁹ Ω cm. It is promising to fabricate the ZnO films doped with Cu for SAW device applications.     

A Study on the Morphology and Mechanical Properties of PVC/nano‐SiO2 Composites

Three methods were used to modify nano‐SiO₂ particles with various interfaces and interfacial interactions between the particles and Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) matrix. The experimental results show that direct surface treatment of nano‐SiO₂ particles with a silane coupling agent (KH‐550) is not effective for improving the mechanical properties of PVC/SiO₂ composites. Both ultrasonic oscillations and high energy vibromilling improve the interfacial interactions between SiO₂ particles and PVC matrix. With these methods, the aggregation of SiO₂ particles was inhibited and a good dispersion of SiO₂ particles in PVC matrix was obtained, which improved the mechanical properties of the PVC/SiO₂ composite. The mechanical properties of the PVC/SiO₂ composite with high energy vibromilling modified SiO₂ particles were remarkably improved. Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and theoretical calculations demonstrate these improvements.     

A piezoelectric array for sensing radiation modes

With an example of simply supported beam, this paper presents new experimental wok that is to sense radiation modes by a piezoelectric array. An array of rectangular segments of PVDF film attached on the surface of the beam are taken as sensor. The output signals of the PVDF films are multiplied by appropriate weights so that the weighted combinations of the outputs directly lead to the radiation mode amplitudes of the beam. The weight of every PVDF film sensor is independent of the type, magnitude and position of the external excitation. Experimental results are also presented to show the feasibility of this new type radiation mode sensor.     

An ocean kinetic energy converter for low-power applications using piezoelectric disk elements

The main problem facing long-term electronic system deployments in the sea, is to find a feasible way to supply them with the power they require. Harvesting mechanical energy from the ocean wave oscillations and converting it into electrical energy, provides an alternative method for creating self-contained power sources. However, the very low and varying frequency of ocean waves, which generally varies from 0.1?Hz to 2?Hz, presents a hurdle which has to be overcome if this mechanical energy is to be harvested. In this paper, a new sea wave kinetic energy converter is described using low-cost disk piezoelectric elements, which has no dependence on their excitement frequency, to feed low-consumption maritime-deployed electronic devices. The operating principles of the piezoelectric device technique are presented, including analytical formulations describing the transfer of energy. Finally, a prototypical design, which generates electrical energy from the motion of a buoy, is introduced. The paper concludes with the the behavior study of the piezoelectric prototype device as a power generator.     

聚四氟乙烯多孔膜的压电活性及其稳定性

研究了经单向机械拉伸形成的非极性空间电荷型薄膜驻极体聚四氟乙烯(PTFE)多孔膜的压电性.讨论了由PTFE多孔膜和非多孔的聚合物薄膜（PTFE，聚酰亚胺PI，氟化乙丙烯共聚物FEP 和聚三氟氯乙烯PCTFE）组成的双层膜的突出压电活性.初步研究结果指出：在优化的极化条 件下形成的上述双层压电膜以外电极测量的准静态压电d₃₃常数可达186 pC/N， 这个数值与压电陶瓷锆钛酸铅PZT的相应常数接近，而比铁电聚合物聚偏氟乙烯(PVDF)的相 应常数约高出一个数量级.还研究了这类柔性多孔膜 关键词： 聚四氟乙烯多孔膜 压电性 空间电荷驻极体 充电参数 压电活性的热稳定性