Printed recyclable and self-poled polymer piezoelectric generators through single -walled carbon nanotube templating

NA Shepelin and PC Sherrell and E Goudeli and EN Skountzos and VC Lussini and GW Dicinoski and JG Shapter and AV Ellis, ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, 13, 868-883 (2020).

DOI: 10.1039/c9ee03059j

With an increasing global energy demand, along with a rising uptake of portable electronic devices, it is of great importance to investigate the viability of alternative energy harvesting technologies. Flexible piezoelectric generators (PEGs) are able to convert mechanical energy to electricity, making them an idea candidate to decrease reliance on conventional energy sources and to power flexible, portable and implantable electronics. In this study, we show a ow -energy production pathway for transparent PEGs based on poly(vinylidene fluoride-co- trifuoroethyene) (PVDF-TrFE) via shear -induced alignment of its dipoles through extrusion printing, complemented by spatial dipolar tempEating onto single -walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) at ow concentrations (<0.05 wt%). The resulting composite PEGs show up to a 500% enhancement in the piezoelectric charge coefficient d33 relative to extrusion printed pristine PVDF-TrFE, with similar enhancements in energy harvesting, exhibiting a power density of up to 20 W cm(-3) at 0.02 wt% SWCNTs. The extrusion printed composite PEGs show recycabiity using only a green solvent (acetone) and are found to exhibit piezoelectric energy harvesting with a power density of up to 71 W cm(-3) upon reprinting, overcoming two of the most significant hurdles towards commercial production of flexible PEGs.