Matching the Directions of Electric Fields from Triboelectric and Ferroelectric Charges in Nanogenerator Devices for Boosted Performance
Virtual MRS Spring/Fall Meeting & Exhibit 2020 2020
Kaspars Mālnieks, Andris Šutka, Linards Lapčinskis, Artis Linarts

The field related to triboelectricnanogenerator (TENG) devices is emerging rapidly. Many original and creative TENG concepts have been presented in the literature for harvesting mechanical energy and converting it into electricity (Lee et al., 2019). The working principle of TENG devices is straightforward. Due to electrode oscillation or movement, a potential difference is created, which causes a current flow in the external electric circuit. TENG devices can be integrated into fabrics, wearables, interior objects, membranes (to harvest energy from sound), and even implantable devices. To enhance the performance of TENG, different approaches have been used. The most obvious way is to increase the specific contact area via nanostructuring (Zhang et al.). Another possibility is the modification of surface or physicochemical properties of the triboelectric material (Sutka et al., 2019). The performance can be also enhanced by using ferroelectric polymer or composite films as the contacting surfaces (Bai et al.). State-of-the-art performance of ferroelectric material-based TENG devices can be expected when the ferroelectric material layers on contacting sides of the device are inversely polarized (Sutka et al). However, previous works related to TENG devices based on ferroelectric materials overlook the dipole that forms between the triboelectric surface charges on contacting surfaces. As soon as we consider this additional factor, it follows that the electric field direction from ferroelectric dipoles should match the direction of the electric field from triboelectric surface charge to achieve maximum electric field strength and electrostatic induction. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc), and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were used in our studies to prepare TENG devices. The polymer films were spin coated on indium tin oxide (ITO) conductive electrode and contacted against another ITO. The polymer films were given ferroelectric properties by adding 7.5 vol% BaTiO3 nanoparticles. The sign of triboelectric surface charges formed on pure polymers after contacting against ITO was determined by measuring the current between the underlying electrode and the ground in Faraday cup mode. Polymers PDMS, PVAc, and EVA obtain a negative charge on their surface whereas for PMMA a positive charge is observed when contacted ITO. The sign of the net triboelectric charge did not change when BaTiO3 nanoparticles were incorporated into the polymers. All poled BaTiO3/polymer composites exhibit piezoelectric properties. The piezoelectric charges of 2.9 pC/cm2 , 10.9 pC/cm2 , 3.7 pC/cm2 , and 2.4 pC/cm2 were measured for BaTiO3/EVA, BaTiO3/PDMS, BaTiO3/PVAc, and BaTiO3/ PMMA composites, respectively. The higher piezoelectric response of BaTiO3/PDMS could be attributed to its larger deformability under the constant loading force. Composite layer in each of these TENG devices was tested as non-poled and also positively and negatively poled, so that ferroelectric dipole is matched and mismatched with the previously determined surface charge. As example BaTiO3/PDMS TENG device performed excellently, and the output was superior to any other presented in this study. The peak open-circuit voltage (VOC) of device with matched dipoles reached 460 V, instant energy and power densities of this TENG device reached 9.7 mJ/m2 and 143.2 mW/m2 , respectively. For comparison, a TENG device from the same polymers without BaTiO3 NPs shows VOC as small as 16 V and three orders of magnitude smaller energy and power densities of 0.012 mJ/m2 and 0.104 mW/m2. Also, the TENG device from the same inversely polarized composite films but with mismatched dipoles exhibited significantly lower output—VOC of 300 V and instant energy and power densities of 4.0 mJ/m2 and 91.6 mW/m2 from the same contacting area.


Atslēgas vārdi
Nanogenerators; Energy Harvester; Triboelectricity

Mālnieks, K., Šutka, A., Lapčinskis, L., Linarts, A. Matching the Directions of Electric Fields from Triboelectric and Ferroelectric Charges in Nanogenerator Devices for Boosted Performance. No: Virtual MRS Spring/Fall Meeting & Exhibit 2020, Amerikas savienotās valstis, Boston, 27. nov.-4. dec.., 2020. Boston: 2020, 514.-514.lpp.

Publikācijas valoda
English (en)
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