Boosting Efficiency in Piezo-Photocatalysis Process Using Poled Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 Nanorod Arrays for Pollutant Degradation and Hydrogen Production.

Recently, the combination of the piezoelectric effect in the photocatalytic process, referred to as piezo-photocatalysis, has gained considerable attention as a promising approach for enhancing the degradation of organic pollutants. In this investigation, we studied the piezo-photocatalysis by fabricating arrays of barium strontium titanate (Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3) nanorods (BST NRs) on a glass substrate as recoverable catalysts. We found that the degradation rate constant k of the rhodamine B solution achieved 0.0447 min-1 using poled BST NRs in the piezo-photocatalytic process, indicating a 2-fold increase in efficiency compared to the photocatalytic process (0.00183 min-1) utilizing the same material. This is mainly ascribed to the generation of the piezopotential in the poled BST NRs under ultrasonic vibration. Moreover, the BST NR array demonstrated a hydrogen (H2) production rate of 411.5 µmol g-1 h-1. In the photoelectrochemical process, the photocurrent density of poled BST NRs achieved 1.97 mA cm-2 at an applied potential of 1.23 V (ERHE (reversible hydrogen electrode)) under ultrasonic vibrations, representing a 1.7-fold increase compared with the poled BST NRs without ultrasonic vibrations. The measurement results from the liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer (LC-MS) demonstrated the formulation of a degradation pathway for rhodamine B molecules. Moreover, ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulation results demonstrate the dominance of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) rather than superoxide radicals (•O2-) in the degradation process. This study not only benefits the understanding of the principle of the piezo-photocatalytic process but also provides a new perspective for improving the catalytic efficiency for organic pollutants degradation.

High Energy Density in All-Organic Polyimide-Based Composite Film by Doping of Polyvinylidene Fluoride-Based Relaxor Ferroelectrics.

Recently, due to the advantages of superior compatibility, fewer interface defects, and a high electric breakdown field, all-organic dielectric composites have attracted significant research interest. In this investigation, we produced all-organic P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) terpolymer/PI (terp/PI) composite films by incorporating a small amount of terpolymer into PI substrates for high energy density capacitor applications. The resulting terp/PI-5 (5% terpolymer) composite films exhibit a permittivity of 3.81 at 1 kHz, which is 18.7% greater than that of pristine PI (3.21). Furthermore, the terp/PI-5 film exhibited the highest energy density (9.67 J/cm3) and a relatively high charge-discharge efficiency (84.7%) among the terp/PI composite films. The energy density of the terp/PI-5 film was increased by 59.8% compared to that of the pristine PI film. The TSDC results and band structure analysis revealed the presence of deeper traps in the terp/PI composites, contributing to the suppression of leakage current and improved charge-discharge efficiency. Furthermore, durability tests confirm the stability of the composite films under extended high-temperature exposure and cycling, establishing their viability for practical applications.

Flexoelectricity-Enhanced Photovoltaic Effect in Self-Polarized Flexible PZT Nanowire Array Devices.

In this investigation, we report the flexoelectricity-enhanced photovoltaic (FPV) effect in a flexible Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 nanowire (PZT NW) array/PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) nanocomposite. The simulation result of density functional theory (DFT) indicated that the FPV effect in PZT NWs can be greatly affected by the interactions of the strain gradients with the internal field generated by self-polarization. We found that when the nanocomposite film was curved down, the photovoltaic current of the aligned PZT-NW/PDMS composite increased by 84.6-fold and 27.6-fold compared with the PZT-nanoparticles/PDMS and randomly aligned PZT-NW/PDMS nanocomposites at the same curvature, respectively. This is mainly ascribed to the increased flexoelectricity in the aligned PZT-NW/PDMS nanocomposite. This study will contribute to a full understanding of the influence of nanoparticle shape on the flexophotovoltaic effect of nanocomposites. It will have potential use in nanocomposites for the study of the FPV effect and associated applications.

Enhanced Piezoelectric Performance of Various Electrospun PVDF Nanofibers and Related Self-Powered Device Applications.

The piezoelectric polymer poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) has been widely employed for energy harvesting or sensors. Its piezoelectricity originates from the unique crystal structure and the oriented electric dipoles. Generally, electrospinning (ES) is able to improve the crystallinity and piezoelectricity of PVDF. In this investigation, three types of ES, including far-field ES with random (R-PVDF-FFES) or aligned distribution (A-PVDF-FFES) and near-field ES (PVDF-NFES), are applied to fabricate a one-step polarized PVDF membrane. To compare the piezoelectricity of separated PVDF-NFES fibers, the array of PVDF-NFES fibers is encapsulated in polylactic acid (PLA). The result shows that the piezoelectricity of PVDF is dramatically enhanced by NFES and FFES. In d31 mode, the current density of PVDF-NFES-PLA is 75.63 pA cm-2 with a 2 Hz shear force, which is four times larger than A-PVDF-FFES (17.62 pA cm-2) or seven times larger than R-PVDF-FFES (10.63 pA cm-2). Due to its outstanding property, the PVDF-NFES-PLA membrane is designed to be applied as a self-powered device. The unimorph cantilevers are prepared to harvest the vibration energy and their output power density reaches 95.3 µW m-2 at a resonance frequency of 31 Hz. Meanwhile, the flexible bending sensor and pressure sensor are fabricated with a PVDF-NFES-PLA membrane, which shows the stable response for pressure with sensitivity values of 864.68 and 22.6 mV kPa-1, respectively.

Flexophotovoltaic Effect in Potassium Sodium Niobate/Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride-Trifluoroethylene) Nanocomposite.

Flexoelectricity is an electromechanical coupling effect in which electric polarization is generated by a strain gradient. In this investigation, a potassium sodium niobite/poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (KNN/PVDF-TrFE)-based nanocomposite is fabricated, and the flexoelectric effect is used to enhance the photovoltaic current (I pv) in the nanocomposite. It is found that both a pyroelectric current and photovoltaic current can be generated simultaneously in a light illumination process. However, the photovoltaic current (I pv) in this process contributes ≈85% of the total current. When assessing the effect of flexoelectricity with a curvature of 1/20, the I pv of the curved KNN/PVDF-TrFE (20%) (K/P-20) composite increased by ≈13.9% compared to that of the flat K/P-20 nanocomposite. Similarly, at a curvature of 1/20, the I pv of the K/P-20 nanocomposite is 71.6% higher than that of the PVDF-TrFE film. However, the photovoltaic effect induced by flexoelectricity is much higher than the increased polarization from flexoelectricity, so this effect is called as the flexophotovoltaic effect. Furthermore, the calculated energy conversion efficiency of the K/P-20 film is 0.017%, which is comparable to the previous research result. This investigation shows great promise for PVDF-based nanocomposites in ferroelectric memory device applications.

Planar microphone based on piezoelectric electrospun poly(γ-benzyl-α,L-glutamate) nanofibers.

Velocity and pressure microphones composed of piezoelectric poly(γ-benzyl-α,L-glutamate) (PBLG) nanofibers were produced by adhering a single layer of PBLG film to a Mylar diaphragm. The device exhibited a sensitivity of -60 dBV/Pa in air, and both pressure and velocity response showed a broad frequency response that was primarily controlled by the stiffness of the supporting diaphragm. The pressure microphone response was ±3 dB between 200 Hz and 4 kHz when measured in a semi-anechoic chamber. Thermal stability, easy fabrication, and simple design make this single element transducer ideal for various applications including those for underwater and high temperature use.

Monitoring biochemical reactions using Y-cut quartz thermal sensors.

In this paper, we present a micromachined Y-cut quartz resonator based thermal sensor array which is configured with a reaction chamber that is physically separated but located in close proximity to the resonator for sensitive calorimetric biosensing applications. The coupling of heat from the reaction chamber to the quartz resonator is achieved via radiation and conduction through ambient gas. The sensor was packaged onto a 300 µm thick stainless plate with an opening in the middle. The sensor array was aligned to the opening and mounted from the underside of the plate. A reaction chamber designed for performing (bio)chemical reactions was used in the measurements. This configuration of the sensor allows for a very robust sensing platform with no fouling of the sensor surface or degradation in its performance metrics. Impedance-based tracking of resonance frequency was used for chemical, enzymatic, and cellular activity measurements. The sensor described has an impedance sensitivity of 852 Ω °C(-1) or a frequency sensitivity of 7.32 kHz °C(-1) for the 91 MHz resonator used in this work. Results on exothermic reaction between hydrochloric acid and ammonium hydroxide, the hydrolysis reaction of urea by urease and the catalytic reaction of glucose with glucose dehydrogenase are reported. From the signal to noise ratio analysis of the glucose sensor, <10 µM glucose sensitivity could be obtained improving the detection limit by a factor of 250 in comparison to our previous work using thermopile sensors. Finally, calcium ionophore induced cellular activity was measured in pancreatic cancer cells using the sensor.

A dielectric polymer with high electric energy density and fast discharge speed.

Dielectric polymers with high dipole density have the potential to achieve very high energy density, which is required in many modern electronics and electric systems. We demonstrate that a very high energy density with fast discharge speed and low loss can be obtained in defect-modified poly(vinylidene fluoride) polymers. This is achieved by combining nonpolar and polar molecular structural changes of the polymer with the proper dielectric constants, to avoid the electric displacement saturation at electric fields well below the breakdown field. The results indicate that a very high dielectric constant may not be desirable to reach a very high energy density.

Single crystal PMN-PT/epoxy 1-3 composite for energy-harvesting application.

One key parameter in using electroactive materials to harvest electric energy from mechanical sources is the energy conversion efficiency. Recently, it was shown that, in the relaxor ferroelectric PMN-PT single crystals, a very high longitudinal electromechanical coupling factor (>90%) can be obtained. This paper investigates energy harvesting using 1-3 composites of PMN-PT single crystals in a soft epoxy matrix. It is shown that 1-3 composites enable the single crystals operating in the longitudinal mode to achieve high efficiency for energy harvesting, and the soft-polymer, matrix-supported single-crystal rods maintain high mechanical integrity under different external loads. For comparison, 1-3 composites with piezoceramic PZT also are investigated in energy-harvesting applications, and the results show that the high coupling factor of single crystal PMN-PT 1-3 composites leads to much higher electric energy output for similar mechanical energy input. The harvested energy density of 1-3 composite with single crystal (22.1 mW/cm3 under a stress of 40.4 MPa) is about twice of that harvested with PZT ceramic 1-3 composite (12 mW/cm3 under a stress of 39 MPa). At a higher stress level, the harvested-energy density of 1-3 PMN-PT single crystal composite can reach 96 mW/cm3.