C60 and Inorganics-Appended Dielectric Polymers as Ways to Open New Possibilities Towards High-Performing Triboelectric Nanogenerator

Abstract

As the demands for portable electronic devices, the importance of the means to supply them with energy is rising. In this global trend, triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) for converting extra physical energy into electric energy has been widely studied. The output power of TENG is determined by device structure, positively charged layer and negatively charged layer, especially of which dielectric polymers used as negatively charged material, have not been studied further despite its importance. Dielectric insulating polymers are known for more charges with high dielectric constants and high work function. Herein, the fullerene-substituted polystyrene (PS@C60) and -substituted poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA@C60), which have high work functions and high electron capture capabilities, are synthesized for use as negatively charged layer. Moreover, to overcome the limit of organic materials with a relatively low dielectric constant compared to inorganic materials, the inorganic-organic hybrid materials are introduced by using BaTiO3 (BTO) with PMMA (PMMA@BTO) and PS (PS@BTO). Due to high dielectric constant of BTO and high dielectric strength of polymers, these hybrid materials will play a crucial role in use as good negatively charged materials. The synthetic approaches for appending the inorganics or fullerene-derivatives with highperforming electronic properties, pave the terrific way to modifications of well-known dielectric polymers towards significant improvement on TENG.