Spring-Induced Mechanical Strategy for High-Output, Flexible PAN-Based Piezoelectric Harvester

TL;DR

This paper introduces a mechanical strategy to significantly boost the power output of flexible PAN-based piezoelectric harvesters for wearable electronics and IoT devices.

Contribution

A novel mechanical excitation strategy using impact mode significantly enhances the output of PAN-based piezoelectric harvesters.

Findings

PAN-20 wt.% BaTiO3 achieved a peak current of 0.33 mA at 10 Hz, a 7.9-fold improvement over pure PAN.

Impact excitation at 6 Hz produced a current density of 1.0 mA cm−2 and power density of 256.5 µW cm−2.

The device could power 275 LEDs and operated stably over 63,530 cycles.

Abstract

The growing demand for wearable electronics and the Internet of Things (IoT) calls for flexible piezoelectric energy harvesters with substantially improved power output. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymers, with their high polarization and excellent thermal stability, are among the most promising candidates for efficient flexible piezoelectric materials. However, the performance of existing PAN-based harvesters remains limited, and strategies for further enhancing their output are still insufficiently explored. Herein, this study aims to overcome the output bottleneck of PAN-based PENGs by implementing a novel mechanical excitation strategy. Using electrospun flexible PAN-BaTiO3 nanocomposite films, we systematically compared the electromechanical responses under conventional compression and impact modes. Real-time synchronized force–current measurements in compression mode revealed that the output current increases progressively with drive frequency (2–10 Hz). Specifically, the PENG with PAN-20 wt.% BaTiO3 achieved a peak current of 0.33 mA at 10 Hz, showing an approximately 7.9-fold enhancement over its pure PAN counterpart. More importantly, under 6 Hz impact excitation, the device exhibited a remarkable output current density of 1.0 mA cm−2 and a peak power density of 256.5 µW cm−2. This current density is 95 times higher than that in compression mode at a comparable frequency and surpasses the performance of most recently reported piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators. With an effective area of 16 cm2, the PENG could simultaneously illuminate up to 275 commercial LEDs or 100 individual bulbs and maintained stable operation over 63,530 cycles. This work overcomes the output bottleneck in low-frequency energy harvesting and provides an effective pathway toward practical energy-harvesting applications.

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