Piezoelectric Nanogenerator based on Graphene and MXene Heterostructure

This study investigates the integration of graphene and MXene heterostructures as nanofillers in polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrices to enhance the performance of piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs). The combination of nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus tri-doped graphene (NSPG) and titanium carbonitride (Ti<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</inf>CNT<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</inf>) MXene significantly improves the electroactive β-phase content in PVDF, leading to enhanced piezoelectric output. The β-phase fraction in the nanocomposites increased with the ratio of NSPG to Ti<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</inf>CNT<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</inf>, reaching 88% for a 1:3 ratio. The resulting PENG devices exhibited higher open circuit voltage and short-circuit current values compared to pure PVDF and reference samples. The highest measured peak-to-peak output values were 14.6 V for V<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">oc</inf> and 1.48 µA for I<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">sc</inf>. The synergistic effect of the NSPG-Ti<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</inf>CNT<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</inf> heterostructure resulted in an output power of 8.8 µW, five times higher than that of a pure PVDF device. These findings demonstrate the potential of this nanofiller combination to improve PENG efficiency and pave the way for the development of biomechanical energy harvesting devices.