Poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanofiber-based piezoelectric nanogenerators using reduced graphene oxide/polyaniline

Recently, piezoelectric nanogenerators have received great interest as they can convert waste mechanical and radiative energy to electricity and can be used in self-energy generating systems and sensor technologies. In this study, electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) nanofiber-based piezoelectric nanogenerators with reduced graphene oxide (rGO), polyaniline (PANI), and PANI-functionalized rGO (rGOPANI) have been developed. Two different types of nanofiber mats were produced: First, rGO- and rGOPANI-doped PVDF nanofiber mats and second, rGO, PANI and rGOPANI-spray-coated PVDF nanofiber mats that have worked as nanogenerators' electrodes. Then, characterizations of samples were performed in terms of piezoelectricity, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometric, X-ray diffractions (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy analyses. FTIR and XRD results confirmed that piezoelectric β-crystalline phase of PVDF occurred after the electrospinning process. Besides, maximum output voltages were obtained as 7.84 and 10.60 V for rGO-doped PVDF and rGOPANI-coated PVDF nanofiber mats, respectively. As a result, the doped nanofibers were found to be more successful due to the higher device accuracy in sensor technologies compared with spray-coated samples. However, spray-coating method proved to be more suitable technique for the production of nanogenerators on an industrial scale in terms of fast and large-scale applicability. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48517.