Nylon‐11 nanowires for triboelectric energy harvesting

Abstract

Triboelectric energy harvesting from ambient mechanical sources relies on motion-generated surface charge transfer between materials with different electron affinities. In order to achieve highly efficient energy harvesting performance, choosing materials with a high surface charge density is crucial, and odd-numbered polyamides (Nylons), such as Nylon-11, are particularly promising due to their strong electron-donating characteristics and the possibility to achieve dipolar alignment leading to high surface potential. The use of Nylon-11 as a material for triboelectric energy harvesting has been rather limited due to the extreme processing conditions required for film fabrication, and the high-voltage poling process required for dipole alignment. However, several methods to achieve "self-poled" Nylon-11 nanowires via facile nanoconfinement techniques have been demonstrated recently, leading to highly efficient Nylon-11 nanowire-based triboelectric nanogenerators. Here, we review the most recent advances in the fabrication of Nylon-11 nanowires, with a focus on how nanoconfinement-based fabrication methods can be used to control phase and crystallinity. These growth methods lead to self-poled nanowires without the requirement for subsequent electrical poling, facilitating their integration into triboelectric energy harvesting devices. Strategies to fabricate Nylon-11 nanowires for applications in triboelectric devices can be extended to other polymeric families as well.

Materials‐Related Strategies for Highly Efficient Triboelectric Energy Generators

“…demonstrated “self‐poled” ferroelectric nanowires that were fabricated without any external electrical poling process. [ 66–69 ] As a ferroelectric material, odd‐numbered Nylon was investigated, which incidentally belongs to the less‐explored family of synthetic and organic tribo‐positive materials. They shows that α‐phase Nylon‐11, which is the phase associated with strong hydrogen bonding, resulted in enhanced triboelectric charge density ( Figure 6 ai).…”

Surface Potential Tuned Single Active Material Comprised Triboelectric Nanogenerator for a High Performance Voice Recognition Sensor

“…In this context, nylon-11 is selected due to its superior triboelectric properties, mechanical robustness, flexibility and easy processibility to form nanofibers. [33][34][35] Noteworthy to mention that the surface charge density of the electrospun nanofibers are possible to change because of dissimilar molecular orientation, when the bias polarity in electrospinning process is altered from +ve to −ve. [36][37][38][39] Two different materials are used so far to choose the different surface charge density in TENG, however here we have shown a promising way to use a single material prepared by +ve and −ve voltage bias employed in electrospinning technique to fabricate the TENG (S-TENG), where two tribolayers of S-TENG are made from nylon-11 nanofiber mats.…”

Superficial modification of polyamide‐66 film for enhanced electrical performance and multimode functional triboelectric nanogenerators

“…Polyamides are particularly interesting because of their strong electron-donating properties and the ability to establish dipolar alignment, resulting in high surface potential. 10,11 The odd-numbered nylons are identified by their number of carbon atoms, which is determined by the repeating unit of [HN-(CH 2 ) x -CO] n , which consists of pairs of -NH and -C=O amide groups pointing in the same direction from the essential and stable dipole moment. 12,13 Nylon is also an appropriate candidate for piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerator applications due to its flexibility, robustness, lightness, and low cost as well as biocompatibility.…”

“…It is critical to select a material with a high surface charge density. Polyamides are particularly interesting because of their strong electron‐donating properties and the ability to establish dipolar alignment, resulting in high surface potential 10,11 . The odd‐numbered nylons are identified by their number of carbon atoms, which is determined by the repeating unit of [HN‐(CH 2 ) x ‐CO] n , which consists of pairs of ‐NH and ‐C=O amide groups pointing in the same direction from the essential and stable dipole moment 12,13 .…”