Triboelectric nanogenerator based on polyaniline nanorods incorporated PDMS composites through a facile synthetic route

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) open up a new technique for developing green power sources through effective harvesting and conversion...     

Enhanced Mechanical Energy Harvesting in Triboelectric Nanogenerator by the Reinforcement of Polypyrrole-Decorated rGO Sheets in PDMS

Energy harvesting triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) to scavenge unused mechanical energy have received significant attention in this decade. Herein, the development of reduced graphene oxide (rGO):polypyrrole (PPy) hybrid-modified polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as TENG for various device applications is reported. The bulk of PDMS is altered by different fillers such as rGO, PPy, and the binary hybrids of rGO and PPy with varying weight ratios. Among various PDMS composites, 1 wt% of 1:8 rGO:PPy–PDMS composite exhibits higher TENG responses than other PDMS composite. The superior TENG performances of 1 wt% 1:8 rGO:PPy–PDMS composite are attributed to the formation of intensified negative charges inside the PDMS matrix. This charge intensification in the composite is due to various mechanisms, including the charge trapping ability of rGO:PPy filler, microcapacitor formation by introducing hybrid filler in the system with proper conducting networks, and the electron-donating nature of PPy conducting polymer. A 3D stacked device proposed using 1 wt% 1:8 rGO:PPy–PDMS composite delivered a short-circuit current of 16 μA and an open-circuit potential of 60 V by simple palm pressing. Also, the ability of the stacked device for charging/powering portable devices and light-emitting diodes is demonstrated.     

Optimization of the conductivity and yield of chemically synthesized polyaniline using a design of experiments

The electrical conductivity and yield of polyaniline (PANi) were optimized using a design of experiments (DOE). PANi samples were synthesized by the chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline using methane sulfonic acid as the dopant acid and ammonium persulfate as the oxidant. The main factors in the synthesis of PANi that can affect the conductivity were identified as (i) the concentration of dopant acid, (ii) oxidant‐to‐monomer ratio, and (iii) the addition rate of oxidant to monomer. Using a Box‐Behnken DOE method the regression equation, main effects plots, contour plots, and optimization plots for conductivity and yield were generated and analyzed. Under the optimized conditions of dopant acid concentration of 0.9M, an oxidant addition rate of 30 mL/h and an OM ratio of 0.9, PANi with a conductivity of 1.95 S/cm and yield of 95% was obtained. The observed trends in the four‐point probe conductivity measurements were correlated with the polymer structure using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction studies, and scanning electron microscopy. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 1047‐1057, 2013