Electrical performance of a Triboelectric nanogenerator developed using ionic liquid-processed polyvinylidene fluoride fabricated through an Additive manufacturing technique

Abstract

In recent years, there is an ever-growing demand for providing sustainable power to flexible electronics, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. The additive manufacturing process can be used to develop energy harvesting devices with a variety of essential properties to fulfil this requirement. In the present work, flexible and transparent Triboelectric nanogenerator devices for energy harvesting applications are fabricated using Ionic liquid processed polyvinylidene fluoride and polyamide 6 by a material extrusion process. To improve the formation of the electroactive β-phase, PVDF was processed with varying ionic liquid content (5 %, 10 %, 15 %, 20 %), with studies conducted on its impact on dielectric properties and energy output of TENG devices. The triboelectric performance studies show that PVDF processed with 15 % of Ionic liquid provides the maximum peak output voltage of 180.5 V, short-circuit current of 16.5 µA and power density of 3.42 Wm⁻². The addition of an Ionic Liquid to PVDF enhances the polar β-phase, dielectric constant, modify surface potential, and serves as a conductive medium for electrons trapped from the surface to the bulk material, leading to enhanced triboelectric charge density and improved performance of TENG devices. Similarly, the additive manufacturing method enables more rough surface contact between the two tribolayer through increased surface roughness and uniform layer printing, which leads to an increase in the charge transfer thereby boosting energy output performance. This study shows the feasibility of fabricating flexible TENG devices using Ionic liquid processed PVDF through additive manufacturing, with potential applications in energy harvesting.