As
an effective way of power-to-electricity conversion, piezoelectric
energy harvesters have received extensive attention in the past decade.
However, the relationship between output performance and the topological
structure of piezoelectric devices is still unknown. In this study,
a simple and fast in-situ chemical foaming assisted fused deposited modeling (FDM) method was developed,
and complex three-dimensional (3D) bioinspired bone structures of
polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) were successfully fabricated. The hierarchical
porous structure couples advantages of arbitrary shape design by 3D
printing and abundant inner pores inside the printed piezoelectric
parts that amplify the stress–strain effect and improve the
output capacity. Moreover, with the assistance of ionic liquid, high
β-phase content (86.72%) PVDF was achieved, producing an output
of ∼13 V and a maximum current density of ∼0.27 μA/cm2, which outperforms most of the PVDF piezoelectric energy
harvesters reported so far. Impressively, the as-prepared PVDF device
can directly light up eight green LED bulbs and charge a 1 μF
commercial capacitor to 3.65 V within 300 s. This work highlights
a new 3D printing strategy integrated with a 3D biomimetic structural
design for high-performance piezoelectric energy harvesting.
With
the advent of 5G and the Internet of Things era, sensitive
and stable sensors have begun to develop rapidly, which are important
substantial fundaments of smart medical care. In this study, based
on the positive temperature coefficient (PTC) in conductive polymer
composites (CPC), a novel polyolefin elastomer (POE)/carbon fiber
(CF) composite was prepared. By regulating the rheological behavior
of the polymer matrix, we realized its controllable thermal expansion
in the temperature field and finally realized the reversible construction–destruction
of the conductive CF network. Under optimal molecular weight conditions,
the POE/CF PTC sensor showed a high sensitivity of 0.11 °C
–1
and stability. It was also demonstrated that the
heat transfer efficiency of the composite material played an essential
role in the sensitivity of the as-prepared PTC sensor. Most impressively,
we have assembled an invisible respiratory monitoring device based
on the POE/CF composite to achieve real-time monitoring of human breathing,
which displayed wide potential prospects in thermal monitoring and
provided good prospects for micron-scale functional composites.
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