Triboelectric properties of BaTiO3/polyimide nanocomposite film

Abstract The method of doping high dielectric nanoparticles (NPs) into polymers to raise the permittivity can enhance the output performance of vertical contact-separation-mode triboelectric nanogenerator (VCS-TENG). However, for lateral sliding-mode TENG (LS-TENG), the triboelectric effect is accompanied by wear of material, and whether the composite material with high permittivity is beneficial to the durability as well as the electrical output remains ambiguous. In this paper, the influence of BaTiO3/polyimide (BTO/PI) nanocomposite films on the output performance of VCS-TENG and LS-TENG is compared, and the effects of NPs doping mass fraction, normal force and reciprocating frequency on the tribological properties and electrification performance are investigated. The results show that BTO/PI nanocomposite film with proper doping mass fraction not only increases the wear resistance of LS-TENG, but also improves the output. For LS-TENG, the 5 wt% of BTO NPs exhibits the highest electrical output while for VCS-TENG, the 18 wt% of BTO NPs exhibits the best highest electrical output. In addition, under the test conditions in this paper, increasing the normal load and reciprocating frequency is beneficial to the output performance of the LS-TENG but harmful to the durability. This work can provide guidance for the nanocomposite film design of LS-TENG.