Dopamine treated SnO2/PVDF composite films for hybrid mechanical energy harvester

Combining the piezoelectric and triboelectric effects into a single device called hybrid nanogenerator (HNG) is a key discovery to overcome the drawback of low electrical output piezo/triboelectric nanogenerators. This work elaborates detailed electrical performance investigation on dopamine treated tin oxide ([email protected]2) nanoparticles (NPs) impregnated polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-based HNG. The mixing of SnO2 NPs inside the PVDF matrix enhances the β phase of the composite film and the electrical performance of the respective HNG. The coating of DA on SnO2 NPs works as a binder between SnO2 NPs and PVDF polymer by removing the defects in the SnO2/PVDF composite film. Also, the presence of carbon in DA increases electron generation inside the composite film, which further enhances the electrical output of HNG. With this effect, the fabricated [email protected]2/PVDF-based HNG produced maximum electrical outputs of 62 V, 1.55 μA, and 17.9 μC/m2 which were considerably higher than those of the SnO2/PVDF-based HNG. Finally, the [email protected]2/PVDF-based HNG was tested for different operational parameters and used to charge commercially available capacitors and power up small-scale electronics. The proposed HNG provides an excellent energy harvesting capability and can be employed to harvest energy from abundantly available mechanical movements.