La‐YFeO ₃ Perovskite/PVDF‐HFP Composite Based High Performance Triboelectric Energy Harvester for Self‐Powered Insole Applications

ABSTRACT Herein, we develop a La‐doped YFeO 3 perovskite/PVDF‐HFP polymer composites based flexible triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) for insole sensor applications and wireless data monitoring. A threefold strategy involving enhancement of electric polarization, charge trapping and surface roughness of the tribonegative polymer composite is introduced to improve the triboelectric output of the TENG. The inclusion of La‐YFeO 3 (L‐YF) enhances the electric polarization and the charge trapping capacity of the polymer composite. Again, submicron sized pores (250‐400 nm) are developed at the top surface of the composite film by phase inversion technique to increase the surface roughness. These phenomena jointly enhance the output of the fabricated devices (1280 V, 13.2 Wm −2 ) by tuning the work function of the composite film. Some small electronic devices (53 LEDs, capacitor, stopwatch, calculator) are powered by the generated electrical energy as the practical applications. These high performances TENGs are used in fabrication of self‐powered insole sensors which can generate distinguishable signals for different positions of foot during walking. The signals can be categorized depending on the physical conditions of the persons. The signals are wirelessly fetched in an Android system by using a microcontroller and internet that promotes the real time monitoring and analyzing of the data from remote locations.