Fabrication and Characterization of Piezoelectric Nanogenerator Based on ZnO and PVP for Harvesting Energy System Applications

Self-powered devices are necessary for the growing demand of sustainable energy as well as for portable devices. Numerous techniques and several piezo materials compositions have been investigated for energy harvesting. However, the composition of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) with Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) for Piezoelectric Nanogenerator (PENG) using electrospinning technique has not been investigated for energy harvesting, to-date. In this study, multi solutions of ZnO and PVP were made in Dimethylformamide (DMF), varying the weight of both compositions. The electrospinning technique was used to produce the composite fiber of the solution. The parameters (Voltage, Feed rate, Needle Range, Distance, Time) were optimized. The Taylor cone nano fibers with good form were selected and PENG device have been made. Fabricated Piezoelectric Nanogenerator (PENG) effectively created V_OC of ~ 40–50 V and I_SC of 400 nA, which is promising power for wearable electronics, biosensors, light-up LEDs, and low power Internet of Things (IoT) devices. A voltage in this range is quite high for nanoscale energy harvester, showing good material properties, fabrication, and device design.