Highly Efficient, Flexible Thin Film Nanogenerator

Energy harvesting technologies converting external sources (such as thermal energy, vibration and mechanical energy from the nature sources of wind, waves or animal movements) into electrical energy is recently a highly demanding issue in the materials science community for making sustainable green environments. In particular, fabrication of usable nanogenerator attract the attention of many researchers because it can scavenge even the biomechanical energy inside the human body (such as heart beat, blood flow, muscle stretching, or eye blinking) by converging harvesting technology with implantable bio-devices. Herein, we describe procedure suitable for generating and printing a lead-free microstructured $BaTiO_3$ thin film nanogenerator on plastic substrates to overcome limitations appeared in conventional flexible ferroelectric devices. Flexible $BaTiO_3$ thin film nanogenerator was fabricated and the piezoelectric properties and mechanically stability of ferroelectric devices were characterized. From the results, we demonstrate the highly efficient and stable performance of $BaTiO_3$ thin film nanogenerator and the integration of bio-eco-compatible ferroelectric materials may enable innovative opportunities for artificial skin and energy harvesting system.