We have synthesized BaTiO3 nanowires (NWs) via a simple hydrothermal method at low temperature and developed a lead-free, flexible nanocomposite generator (NCG) device by a simple, low-cost, and scalable spin-coating method. The hydrothermally grown BaTiO3 NWs are mixed in a polymer matrix without a toxic dispersion enhancer to produce a piezoelectric nanocomposite (p-NC). During periodical and regular bending and unbending motions, the NCG device fabricated by utilizing a BaTiO3 NWs-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite successfully harvests the output voltage of ∼ 7.0 V and current signals of ∼ 360 nA, which are utilized to drive a liquid crystal display (LCD). We also characterized the instantaneous power (∼ 1.2 μW) of the NCG device by calculating the load voltage and current through the connected external resistance.

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The novel mechanism of exfoliation of silicate was investigated. Exfoliation and intercalation was achieved even at 15 wt % in the polyurethane (PU) matrix via in situ polymerization. Through using IR consumption graph of curing agent, crosslinking equation could be derived. The diffusion rate of curing agent, Isophorone diisocyanate, brought the different morphologies as well as crosslinking densities of nanocomposites. Dodecylamine, the organifier having similar hydrogen‐bonding component with Isophorone diisocyanate than octadecylamine, affected the faster diffusion of isophorone diisocyanate in hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene/organoclay composite. This phenomenon was confirmed by DSC graph, XRD, SAXS, and TEM images. The nanocomposites showed high physical properties until at 10 wt % clay. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013