Influence of BaTiO3/white graphene filler synergy on the energy harvesting performance of a piezoelectric polymer nanocomposite

Abstract

In this work, a novel ternary polyvinylidene fluoride hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP) nanocomposite containing ceramic barium titanate nanoparticles (BaTiO₃) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanolayers is developed. An efficient filler synergy is achieved through the interaction between BaTiO₃ and the h-BN nanolayers through simple solution mixing. The dielectric properties and the piezoelectric performances of the materials are monitored in order to check the efficiency of the fabricated nanocomposite in mechanical energy harvesting. When compared to the individual nanocomposites (PVDF-HFP/BaTiO₃ and PVDF-HFP/h-BN), the hybrid composite (particularly the one with 3 wt% BaTiO₃ and 1 wt% h-BN) shows the best performance in piezoelectric output voltage (2.4 V) with high dielectric constant (45) and low dielectric loss (7.8). The significance of filler synergy in contributing to the piezoelectric performance of PVDF-HFP is established along with the possibility of its application in self-powering devices.