Biocarbon-Enhanced Flexible Nanofiber Mats for Sustainable Energy Generation and Wearable Device Applications

Abstract

AbstractA broad diversity of nanofillers and polymers have been used to prepare polymer nanocomposites having potential applications in transportation, sports materials, aerospace, electronics, communication, energy, environment, and biomedical. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) finds a remarkable place in energy applications attributed to its highest known piezo- and pyroelectric properties. Like most carbon materials, Biochar has excellent electrical conductivity, since it comprises graphene layers with a great amount of carbon content. This study explores the behavior of composite nanofibers fabricated from rice straw-derived biochar-PVDF as wearable mats to harvest body energy into electricity. The composite nanofiber mats were fabricated using the electrospinning technique to get the benefit of both the piezoelectric properties of PVDF and the excellent electric properties of Biochar. The research found that incorporating 12 wt % of Biochar greatly enhances the piezoelectric content of the nanofiber mats without noteworthy loss in flexibility. In addition, the effects of membrane thickness (0.5, 0.9, and 1 mm) on their output voltages as a performance factor of the nanogenerator were measured. Results indicated that the effect of thickness was most influential in the thickness of 1 mm of PVDF/biochar nanofibers generator. The results of this work imply promising application development of such flexible composite piezoelectric nanofibrous membranes for environmentally sustainable energy generation and wearable self-powered electrical devices.