Polymer-multiferroics composite-based sustainable triboelectric energy harvester

Abstract

Multiferroics particles with the chemical formula of FeTiVO6 (FTVO) were synthesized using a solid-state reaction and blended with PDMS to obtain flexible composites. The FTVO particles crystallize in orthorhombic symmetry, and the multiferroic nature was confirmed using room temperature M-H and P-E hysteresis loops. A triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) device was prepared using the composite at different wt% of FTVO-PDMS as a triboelectric layer. To enhance the output performance of TENG, microroughness composites were prepared following a cost-effective route. The 5wt% of FTVO in the PDMS composite-based device delivered a higher electrical output of 110V, 0.8 µA, and power of 65 µW at 108 Ω. The demonstration of charging capacitors confirms that the TENG can act as a sustainable power source. The long-term stability of the device output confirms that fabricated TENG can be utilized asself-powered sensors. Humidity is a factor that limits the performance of the TENG. The packing of the TENG could solve this problem by stopping the interaction of triboelectric layers with moisture and humidity. Hence, demonstration of the packed TENG under harsh conditions such as inside the water tub and at varying humidity levels was carried out to confirm the stability of the output. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.