Electrospun Polyvinylidene Fluoride–Magnesiochromite Nanofiber-Based Piezoelectric Nanogenerator for Energy Harvesting Applications
Sathiyanathan Ponnan, Thomas Schmidt, Tianyuan Li, Harini Bhuvaneswari Gunasekaran, Xixian Ke, Yajing Huang, Suhail Mubarak, Arun Anand Prabu, Zixiang Weng, Lixin Wu
Abstract
In this paper, magnesiochromite nanocrystalline powder (MgCr2O4) was synthesized through the coprecipitation method using an eggshell membrane as a template to get the best structural and morphological properties. The as-synthesized MgCr2O4 was blended with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and electrospun. Finally, a robust piezoelectric nanogenerator using the PVDF–MgCr2O4 nanofiber was fabricated. The ferroelectric β-crystalline phase and the piezoelectric characteristics of PVDF were enhanced by the incorporation of MgCr2O4. The fabricated nanogenerator showed an output voltage of 1.05 V with a power density of 0.51 μW/cm2. The practical applicability of the nanogenerator as an energy harvester was evaluated through tapping motions of humans.