TRIBO-POLARITY ENHANCEMENT OF POLYVINYLIDENE FLOURIDE FOR TRIBOELECTRIC NANOGENERATOR AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Recently, in place to bolster the rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor systems in the application of wearable and portable devices, sustainable and green power sources are required. Therefore, energy harvesting from the natural surroundings has generally been considered a viable answer to the expanding electricity consumption brought on by innovative advances. Although liquid-solid triboelectric nanogenerator (LS-TENG) has been taken into consideration as a remarkable promising renewable clean energy source for electronic devices, their performances are still limited to be practically utilized owing to the weak polarity and inadequate functional groups of triboelectric materials. Thus, enhancing TENG performance is a critical issue to be concerned for both practical and industrial applications. Hence, in this study, the tribo-polarity of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) was enhanced and acted as a triboelectric layer of the LS-TENG. PVDF was modified via two strategies: creating a more polar β phase to increase the dipole moment or adjusting the fluorine-containing functional groups with low surface energy. The results of β content, dielectric constant, hydrophobic, and polarization have demonstrated the increase of tribo-polarity in the PVDF membrane. In addition, the TENG based on the modified PVDF membrane was shown superior triboelectric performance. In particular, the highest power density of TENG was obtained at 2.08 W/m2, a 10-fold improvement over the pristine PVDF-TENG. In this manner, a new material for the triboelectric layer is presented to effectively improve the output performance, stability, and durability of TENGs, which are promising for use in practical applications related to harvesting hydrokinetic energy, self-powered sensors, and other applications.