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Flexible and high-temperature stable nanofiber composite made of PEI/KNN for energy harvesting

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Abstract

High-temperature stable eco-friendly energy-harvesting technologies are in high demand for industrial applications wherein piezoelectric energy harvesting is gaining interest. The present work describes a high-temperature stable electrospun nanofiber-based flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG). A lead-free piezoelectric filler potassium sodium niobate (KNN) is incorporated in polyetherimide (PEI) matrix through an electrospinning process. A polymeric solution of PEI in 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) solvent is prepared at a fixed concentration of 25 wt% and filler loading varied from 1 to 3%. Among the various percentages of KNN NRs, 2% KNN NRs @ PEI nanocomposite demonstrates the most promising results (voltage of 6.3 V and current of 0.60 μA). In addition, the flexible nanogenerator holds its piezoelectric performance even at very high temperatures (studied up to 250 ºC) without any significant deterioration in properties. Finally, the optimized piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) is used to charge capacitor and glow LED. Therefore, the flexible nanogenerator prepared with 2% KNN NRs @PEI has huge potential to be explored as piezoelectric sensors or energy harvesters in high-temperature stable applications wherein the conventional piezoelectric polymers like PVDF and other thermoplastics fail to sustain their piezoelectric response.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, for funding (Sanction Letter: DST/TDT/DDP-05/2018 (G) under Device Development Program) this research work. Finally, the authors would like to thank Central Research Facility (CRF), IIT Delhi, for different characterization facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India

    Sukumar Roy, Anupam Chowdhury, Mangala Joshi & Wazed Ali

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  1. Sukumar Roy
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  2. Anupam Chowdhury
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  3. Mangala Joshi
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Contributions

SR contributed to formal analysis, data curation, writing original draft, and editing. AC contributed to formal data analysis. MJ contributed to reviewing and editing. WA contributed to conceptualization, project administration, review, and editing.

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Correspondence to Mangala Joshi or Wazed Ali.

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Roy, S., Chowdhury, A., Joshi, M. et al. Flexible and high-temperature stable nanofiber composite made of PEI/KNN for energy harvesting. J Mater Sci 59, 171–187 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-09156-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-09156-1

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