Near-field electrospinning enhances the energy harvesting of hollow PVDF piezoelectric fibers

In this study we used the near-field electrospinning (NFES) process with the metallic coaxial needle injector to fabricate piezoelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) hollow fiber tubes. Using these tubes, we designed an energy capture device featuring parallel electrodes to harvest low-frequency energy. We examined the effects of several parameters on the properties of the piezoelectric PVDF fiber tubes (PPTs), including the core flow rate, shell flow rate, concentration of PVDF, rotating tangential speed, and electric field. The elongation of the PPTs was greater than that of solid PVDF fibers, with the tensile strength of the PPTs reaching 32.49 MPa (as determined through a micro-tensile measurement). The output voltage of the PPTs was considerably higher (71.66 mV) and, with an external load resistance of 6 MΩ, the output power was also significantly greater (856.07 pW) than the solid PVDF fiber (output voltage = 45.66 mV and the maximum output power = 347.61 pW). As a result, the power generation of the PPTs was 2.46 times higher than that of the solid fibers. Thus, the PPTs not only displayed mechanical stiffness but also produced a greater power output.

[1]  Andrew G. Glen,et al.  APPL , 2001 .

[2]  H. Fan,et al.  Effect of electric field on the structure and piezoelectric properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride) studied by density functional theory , 2010 .

[3]  Y. Liao,et al.  Fast Disintegrating Quercetin-Loaded Drug Delivery Systems Fabricated Using Coaxial Electrospinning , 2013, International journal of molecular sciences.

[4]  P. Sharma.  Mechanics of materials. , 2010, Technology and health care : official journal of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine.

[5]  Liwei Lin,et al.  Energy harvesting with piezoelectric poly(γ-benzyl-L-glutamate) fibers prepared through cylindrical near-field electrospinning , 2014 .

[6]  Andrzej Wasiak,et al.  Phase transitions during stretching of poly(vinylidene fluoride) , 1999 .

[7]  J. Herbert,et al.  The Applications of Ferroelectric Polymers , 1988 .

[8]  Xiaoyan Yuan,et al.  Preparation of core/shell PVP/PLA ultrafine fibers by coaxial electrospinning , 2006 .

[9]  Jun Kameoka,et al.  Electrospinning of silica nanochannels for single molecule detection , 2006 .

[10]  M. Kotaki,et al.  A review on polymer nanofibers by electrospinning and their applications in nanocomposites , 2003 .

[11]  L. Ibos,et al.  Structural evolution of PVDF during storage or annealing , 2004 .

[12]  A. Steckl,et al.  Nanofiber‐Based Bulk‐Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells Using Coaxial Electrospinning , 2012 .

[13]  J. Wendorff,et al.  Electrospinning of Nanofibres: Towards New Techniques, Functions, and Applications , 2007 .

[14]  J. Sirohi,et al.  Fundamental Understanding of Piezoelectric Strain Sensors , 1999, Smart Structures.

[15]  Hongxia Wang,et al.  Enhanced mechanical energy harvesting using needleless electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanofibre webs , 2013 .

[16]  Younan Xia,et al.  Electrospinning of nanofibers with core-sheath, hollow, or porous structures , 2005 .

[17]  Xinyu Xue,et al.  Realizing room-temperature self-powered ethanol sensing of ZnO nanowire arrays by combining their piezoelectric, photoelectric and gas sensing characteristics , 2015 .

[18]  M. Kotaki,et al.  Morphology, polymorphism behavior and molecular orientation of electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride) fibers , 2007 .

[19]  Mahmoud Ahmadian,et al.  Design and evaluation of basic standard encryption algorithm modules using nanosized complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor–molecular circuits , 2006 .

[20]  John B. Shoven,et al.  I , Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal.

[21]  W. Marsden.  I and J , 2012 .

[22]  Shuguang Zhang.  Fabrication of novel biomaterials through molecular self-assembly , 2003, Nature Biotechnology.

[23]  Wonkyu Moon,et al.  Permanent Polarity and Piezoelectricity of Electrospun α‐Helical Poly(α‐Amino Acid) Fibers , 2011, Advanced materials.

[24]  J. West,et al.  Piezoelectric property of hot pressed electrospun poly(γ-benzyl-α, L-glutamate) fibers , 2012 .

[25]  Chung-Kun Yen,et al.  Significant piezoelectric and energy harvesting enhancement of poly(vinylidene fluoride)/polypeptide fiber composites prepared through near-field electrospinning , 2015 .

[26]  Liwei Lin,et al.  Near-field electrospinning. , 2006, Nano letters.

[27]  Y. Dzenis,et al.  Spinning Continuous Fibers for Nanotechnology , 2004, Science.

[28]  S. Ramakrishna,et al.  A review on electrospinning design and nanofibre assemblies , 2006, Nanotechnology.

[29]  S. Ramakrishna,et al.  Double‐layered composite nanofibers and their mechanical performance , 2005 .

[30]  Yan Li,et al.  A facile technique to prepare biodegradable coaxial electrospun nanofibers for controlled release of bioactive agents. , 2005, Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society.

[31]  Younan Xia,et al.  Electrospinning of Nanofibers: Reinventing the Wheel? , 2004 .

[32]  S. Ramakrishna,et al.  Nanostructured ceramics by electrospinning , 2007 .

[33]  G. G. Stokes.  "J." , 1890, The New Yale Book of Quotations.

[34]  Peiyi Wu,et al.  A two dimensional infrared correlation spectroscopic study on the structure changes of PVDF during the melting process , 2004 .

[35]  W. Sigmund,et al.  Processing and Structure Relationships in Electrospinning of Ceramic Fiber Systems , 2006 .

[36]  Guangming Gong,et al.  Novel Polyimide Materials Produced by Electrospinning , 2012 .

[37]  Younan Xia,et al.  Melt coaxial electrospinning: a versatile method for the encapsulation of solid materials and fabrication of phase change nanofibers. , 2006, Nano letters.

[38]  Zhi-yin Wang,et al.  Structure and piezoelectric properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride) studied by density functional theory , 2006 .

[39]  Teahoon Park,et al.  Highly conductive PEDOT electrodes for harvesting dynamic energy through piezoelectric conversion , 2014 .

[40]  A. Yarin,et al.  Desorption-limited mechanism of release from polymer nanofibers. , 2008, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.