Calcium copper titanate incorporated polydimethylsiloxane flexible composite film-based triboelectric nanogenerator for energy harvesting and self-powered sensing applications

Triboelectric energy harvesters offer an efficient way to convert mechanical energy harvested by everyday human body actions into electrical energy. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) are an attractive solution for power supply concerns in the development of portable electronic gadgets and self-powered sensor applications. Herein, a dielectric calcium copper titanate (CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (CCTO)) ceramic material was synthesized by a solid-state reaction process. The synthesized particles were embedded in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer to form a CCTO/PDMS flexible composite film (FCF)-based TENG, called a CCTO FCF-TENG, which is light-weight, simple, and suitable for use. The dielectric properties, surface charge density, and electrical conductivity of the FCF were greatly improved by the addition of the CCTO particles into the PDMS, resulting in excellent electrical output performance of the corresponding CCTO FCF-TENG. The CCTO FCF-TENG device was constructed with the CCTO/PDMS FCF, which functioned vertically against a cellulose paper to optimize a high and stable electrical output. Furthermore, the filler concentration and film thickness optimization was studied more to achieve the highest output power of the CCTO FCF-TENG. The optimized CCTO FCF-TENG exhibited the highest electrical output voltage, current, charge density, and power density of ∼250 V, ∼6.5 μA, ∼70 μC/m², and ∼3.15 W/m², respectively. The mechanical stability and durability of the CCTO FCF-TENG were systematically analyzed. The practical and real-time applications of the packed CCTO FCF-TENG were systematically investigated under various harsh environmental conditions. Finally, the packed CCTO FCF-TENG successfully powered several low-power portable electronics and was also used as a self-powered sensor to sense biomechanical actions in everyday human body activities.