Enhanced piezoelectric response using TiO2/MoS2 heterostructure nanofillers in PVDF based nanogenerators

Polymers like Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) having intrinsic piezoelectric property have been used in fabrication of piezoelectric nanogenerators (PNG) to harness electrical energy at nanoscale level. With advancements, Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) and its composites as nanofillers have been re-ported to enhance the piezoelectric response of PVDF. In context to this, present work includes enhancing the piezoelectric response of PVDF based thin flexible nanogenerators, with 2D MoS2/1D TiO2 hetero-structure as nanofillers. Further, the piezoelectric responses of different (MoS2/TiO2 heterostructure based PVDF, MoS2/PVDF and TiO2/PVDF) nanogenerators is carried out and compared with pristine PVDF nano -generator. It was found that 2D MoS2/1D TiO2 heterostructure based nanogenerators have proven to be the best among other nanogenerators due to enhancement of & beta; phase in PVDF matrix. The FTIR spectroscopy evidently revealed the & beta; phase content in PVDF matrix enhances after incorporation of these nanofillers. Amongst all these fabricated nanogenerators the enhancement in & beta; phase content of the synthesized 2D MoS2/1D TiO2 heterostructure based nanogenerators was highest-71 %. Also, MoS2/TiO2 heterostructure based PVDF nanogenerator generated the maximum peak to peak open circuit voltage (PpOV)-17.4 V, short circuit current (ScC)-0.54 & mu;A and an instantaneous power density of 55.6 & mu;W/cm2.& COPY; 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.