Flexible PEI/PVDF Blend Films with an Enhanced Curie Temperature for Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting

In the quest for finding sustainable energy harvesting solutions, the field of high-temperature stable flexible piezoelectric energy harvesters is emerging as an exciting area of research. In the present research, an approach has been taken to enhance the Curie temperature of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) by blending it with a high-temperature stable poly(ether imide) (PEI) polymer. A polymeric solution of PVDF in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) has been prepared at a fixed concentration of 10 wt % and mixed with different percentages (5, 10, and 15% on the weight of PVDF pellets) of PEI. In this study, a detailed description on the fabrication process of blend films, microstructural study, and the effect of the blend percentage on the electroactive properties of developed films are studied. An addition of 10% PEI in a PVDF film has demonstrated promising results in terms of greater voltage (2.4 V) and current (0.78 μA). It has been observed that the magnitude of the Curie temperature increases (102 °C) with an increase in the blend percentage of PEI. The developed nanogenerators have immense scope to be explored as energy harvesters at temperatures more than 80 °C, whereas well-known polymeric materials (especially PVDF) cannot perform at all.