Synthesis of a nitrogen doped reduced graphene oxide based ceramic polymer composite nanofiber film for wearable device applications

Abstract In this study, piezoelectric composite nanofiber films were fabricated by introducing nitrogen-doped-reduced-graphene-oxide as a conductive material to a P(VDF-TrFE) polymer and a BiScO 3 –PbTiO 3 ceramic composite employing an electrospinning process. Nitrogen was doped/substituted into rGO to remove or compensate defects formed during the reduction process. Electro-spinning process was employed to extract piezoelectric composite nanofiber films under self-poling condition. Interdigital electrodes was employed to make planner type energy harvesters to collect electro-mechanical energy applied to the flexible energy harvester. From the piezoelectric composite with interdigital electrode, the effective dielectric permittivity extracted from the conformal mapping method. By introducing BS–PT ceramics and N-rGO conductors to the P(VDF-TrFE) piezoelectric composite nanofiber films, the effective dielectric permittivity was improved from 8.2 to 15.5. This improved effective dielectric constant probably come from the increased electric flux density due to the increased conductivity. Fabricated interdigital electrode using this thin composite nanofiber film was designed and tested for wearable device applications. An external mechanical force of 350 N was applied to the composite nanofiber-based energy harvester with interdigital electrodes at a rate of 0.6 Hz, the peak voltage and current were 13 V and 1.25 μA, respectively. By optimizing the device fabrication, the open-circuit voltage, stored voltage, and generated output power obtained were 12.4 V, 3.78 V, and 6.3 μW, respectively.