Energy harvesting performance of piezoelectric electrospun polymer fibers and polymer/ceramic composites

The energy harvesting efficiency of electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride), its copolymer vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene and composites of the later with piezoelectric BaTiOon interdigitated electrodes has been investigated. Further, a study of the influence of the electrospinning processing parameters on the size and distribution of the composites fibers has been performed. It is found that the best energy harvesting performance is obtained for the pure poly(vinylidene fluoride) fibers, with power outputs up to 0.03 W and 25 W under low and high mechanical deformation. The copolymer and the composites show reduced power output due to increased mechanical stiffness. The obtained values, among the largest found in the literature, the easy processing and the low cost and robustness of the polymer, demonstrate the applicability of the developed system.

This work is funded by FEDER funds through the "Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade – COMPETE" and by national funds arranged by FCT- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, project references NANO/NMed-SD/0156/2007, PTDC/CTM/73030/2006 and PTDC/CTM/69316/2006. The authors also thank support from the COST Action MP1003, 2010 ‘European Scientific Network for Artificial Muscles’. V.S., V.C. and J.N.P thanks the FCT for the SFRH/BPD/63148/2009, SFRH/BD/48708/2008 and SFRH/BD/66930/2009, grants respectively.