Fabrication and Characterization of High Performance PVDF-based flexible piezoelectric nanogenerators using PMN-xPT (x:30, 32.5, and 35) particles

Flexible piezoelectric nanogenerators based on polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) and lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3(PMN-xPT compositions for x between 30 and 35) particles with various filler ratios from 10 to 30 vol% were fabricated through the electrospinning method. The phase and microstructural characterizations revealed that the homogenous and continuous fiber-shaped composite structure with good interfacial interaction between the PMN-PT particles and the PVDF matrix was achieved. It was found that the diameter of the neat PVDF fibers was approximately 354 nm, whereas the PVDF/PMN-35PT fibers with ceramic particle concentrations of 10, 20, and 30 vol% had average diameters of 317, 249, and 163 nm, respectively. The piezoelectric performance tests indicated that the 30 vol%PVDF/PMN-35PT nanogenerator had a 3 times greater electrical power efficiency (10.59 μW) at 20 Hz compared to that of the pure PVDF nanogenerator (3.56 μW) at 15 Hz under the same resistance load of 1 MΩ. All in all, the incorporation of PMNT-PT particles into the PVDF appears to be a good approach for the fabrication of high-performance flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator applications for biomechanical energy harvesting of devices converting the mechanical movements of organs such as cardiac and lung into electrical energy.