ABSTRACT
A new 2D titanium carbide (Ti3C2), a low dimensional material of the MXene family has attracted remarkable interest in several electronic applications, but its unique structure and novel properties are still less explored in piezoelectric energy harvesters. Herein, a systematic study has been conducted to examine the role of Ti3C2 multilayers when it is incorporated in the piezoelectric polymer host. The 0.03 g/L of Ti3C2 has been identified as the most appropriate concentration to ensure the optimum performance of the fabricated device with a generated output voltage of about 6.0 V. The probable reasons might be due to the uniformity of nanofiller distribution in the polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) and the incorporation of Ti3C2 in a polymer matrix is found to enhance the ß-phase of PVDF and diminish the undesired α-phase configuration. Low tapping frequency and force were demonstrated to scavenge electrical energy from abundant mechanical energy resources particularly human motion and environmental stimuli. The fabricated device attained a power density of 14 µW.cm-2 at 10.8 MΩ of load resistor which is considerably high among 2D material-based piezoelectric nanogenerators. The device has also shown stable electrical performance for up to 4 weeks and is practically able to store energy in a capacitor and light up a LED. Hence, the Ti3C2-based piezoelectric nanogenerator suggests the potential to realize the energy harvesting application for low-power electronic devices.
ABSTRACT
The effect of TiO2 nanoparticles on the photophysical properties of ternary conjugated polymer (CP) blends of poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-2,7-diyl) (PFO), poly 9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole (F8BT) and poly(2-methoxy-5(2-ethylhexyl)-1,4 -phenylenevinylene (MEH-PPV) thin films was investigated. This ternary blend used a fixed amount of PFO as the donor with MEH-PPV and F8BT in various ratios as the acceptors. The solution-blending method and the spin-coating technique were used to prepare the blends and the thin films, respectively. Through efficient Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET), the desired white emission was achieved with PFO/0.3 wt.% F8BT/0.5 wt.% MEH-PPV ternary blend thin film. Additions of nanoparticles up to 10 wt.% dramatically intensified the white emission which then dimmed at higher contents due to agglomerations. The current density-voltage characteristics of the nanocomposite thin films exhibited dependency on the content and distributions of the nanoparticles. Finally, a possible underlying mechanism for the intensification of emission is proposed.
