An Efficient Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) Nanogenerator for Energy Harvesting in Low Frequency Range

There are abundant mechanical energy available in low frequency range, which can be directly converted into electricity using piezoelectric energy harvester. However, very few piezoelectric energy harvester have high conversion efficiency at low frequency range. This study aims to develop an efficient piezoelectric nanogenerator which can be used in low frequency range for energy harvesting applications using PVDF polymers. The feasibility of using PVDF device for energy harvesting was assessed by using a mechanical vibration setup. In addition, the effect of both amplitude and frequency on the voltage output of the PVDF energy harvester has been studied. According to the results, the optimized frequency range for the device was found to be 45 Hz. The results indicated that the voltage output starts to decay at a higher frequency which can be due to the insufficient time for the PVDF nanofiber to be recovered from the induced strain. The variation of the amplitude has a great influence on the voltage output of the piezoelectric device. The voltage output of the PVDF device is enhanced with increasing the amplitude due to the higher amount of induced strain. In fact, the amount of induced strain is the primary source of the available mechanical energy which can be fed into the piezoelectric device to be converted to the electrical energy. The results clearly show that both frequency and amplitude can affect the voltage output of the piezoelectric device. The highest obtained voltage output can be obtained at the frequency range between 30-45 Hz. RESEARCH PAPER