Advanced Piezoelectric PVDF Fiber Films with Te Nanowires for Sustainable Energy Harvesting

Piezoelectric polymers are valued for their ease of fabrication and integration into devices, making them highly promising for self-powered systems and sensor applications that rely on converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. However, their relatively low piezoelectric performance compared to piezoelectric ceramics has limited their practical use. In this study, we present Te-doped PVDF piezoelectric nanofiber mats fabricated through electrospinning, demonstrating enhanced piezoelectric properties. Flexible piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs) incorporating 8 wt% Te in PVDF show a notable increase in output voltage, from 1.2 V to approximately 4.2 V, under a 5 N pressure at 3 Hz. This improvement allows the fiber mats to effectively convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, generating an instantaneous output power density of around <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$45.7 \mu \mathrm{W} / \text{cm}^{2}$</tex>, making them suitable for self-powered sensing and energy harvesting applications.