Influence of Barium Titanate on Electrospun Piezoelectric and Non-Piezoelectric Polymer Nanofibers Toward Energy Harvesting Applications

The growing demand for self-powered and flexible electronics has drawn attention to piezoelectric materials, capable of converting mechanical energy into usable electricity. Piezoelectric polymeric materials have gained significant attention due to their unique ability to generate electrical signals in response to mechanical deformation, coupled with their lightweight, flexible, and biocompatible nature. These features make them promising candidates for next-generation energy harvesting systems, especially in wearable technology, biomedical implants, and self-powered sensing devices. In this work, we studied the effect of incorporation of barium titanate (BTO) nanoparticles on the electrospun Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) and Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) for energy harvesting properties. For this, we prepare a piezoelectric polymer (PVDF/BTO) and a non-piezoelectric polymer (PVP/BTO) nanocomposite and compare their energy harvesting properties. BTO nanoparticles were synthesized using a sol-gel method and dispersed in polymer matrices via electrospinning. Detailed structural, thermal, and dielectric characterizations were performed alongside electromechanical testing. Among the systems, the PVDF/BTO nanocomposite demonstrated the highest energy harvesting performance, delivering an output voltage of 3.8 V, current of 2.1 µA, and power of 7.98 µW under cyclic mechanical stress. The PVP/BTO nanofibers, although a non-piezoelectric polymer, demonstrated a moderate output current (1.3 µA) and output voltage (2.4 V), revealing the influence of PVP's dipolar interactions, marking their promising auxiliary role in nanocomposite engineering. On comparison with a non-piezoelectric polymer matrix, there is an increase of 83% performance for PVDF/BTO nanocomposite. These results were attributed to enhanced β-phase formation and interfacial polarization of PVDF, facilitated by the BTO dispersion. This work illustrates the promise of interface-optimized hybrid nanofibers in enabling high-output, flexible nanogenerators for wearable and self-powered technologies.