Investigations on novel bio-compatible PVDF-Sc composites for Low-frequency energy harvesting using electrospinning
摘要
This work presents the fabrication and characterization of novel bio-compatible polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) composite film devices doped with scandium (Sc) using the electrospinning process for energy harvesting at low frequencies, preferably below 30 Hz. This frequency range of operation is chosen to harvest mechanical energies from ambient mechanical body movements, e.g., the secondary cardiac vibrations and muscle movements etc. The synthesized composite film-based devices were fabricated by incorporating scandium (varying wt.% 2.5–10%) into pure PVDF by using the electrospinning process where different parameters were optimized to obtain better film properties. Incorporating Sc into the PVDF matrix has significantly improved its piezoelectric properties. It is found that PVDF-Sc7.5% composite shows the best performance among all fabricated devices. The presence of (β-phase) in the synthesized films is confirmed through X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis, indicating the improved crystallinity of the film due to Sc doping. Further, the structural and elemental analyses were performed using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), which confirmed the successful integration of scandium into the composite films. The optimized device (PVDF-Sc7.5%) resulted in a ~ 15% increase in d33 and a 55.47% increase in β-phase as compared to the pristine PVDF device, which were measured using d33 measurement and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, respectively. Additionally, the voltage generation results demonstrated appreciable voltage generation of ~ 2.5 Vpp (peak-to-peak) with power density of 20.5 uW/cm2 for PVDF-Sc7.5% composite film device, which is ∼5 times higher than the pure PVDF device. The devices were tested for more than 2000 test cycles, showing good reliability of the fabricated devices.