https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06913-w
Regular Article
Stretchable electrospun nanocomposite for energy storage and harvesting from both vibrational and acoustic excitations
1 Physics and Chemistry Department, Faculty of Education, Alexandria University, 21544, Alexandria, Egypt
2 Center of Smart Materials, Nanotechnology and Photonics (CSMNP), Smart CI Research Center, Alexandria University, 21544, Alexandria, Egypt
3 Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, 21544, Alexandria, Egypt
4 Department of Engineering Mathematics and Physics, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, 21544, Alexandria, Egypt
5 Physics Department, Kuwait College of Science and Technology, 13133, Doha District, Kuwait
6 USTAR Bioinnovations Center, Faculty of Science, Utah State University, 84341, Logan, UT, USA
7 Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 2, 30 - 387, Kraków, Poland
8 Basic Sciences Department, Faculty of Engineering, Pharos University in Alexandria, 21544, Alexandria, Egypt
Received:
3
June
2025
Accepted:
29
September
2025
Published online: 15 October 2025
Significant attention has been focused on transforming mechanical to electricity through polymer nanofibers. Specifically, piezoelectric nanofibers created via electrospinning exhibit notable effectiveness in energy conversion. This study aimed to enhance the piezoelectricity of electrospun Polyvinylidene fluoride polymer (PVDF) incorporated with thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs). Nanocomposite mats with varying particle concentrations and volume ratios of particle-to-matrix were fabricated, and their characteristics were investigated. In addition, the harvesting of electric energy generated from mechanical excitations and acoustic signals was analyzed. The obtained data showed the ability of the manufactured piezoelectric nanofibers to replicate incoming auditory waves. It shows minimal distortion even when exposed to a range of acoustic spectra up to 200 Hz. The maximum increase in piezoelectricity of PVDF and PVDF/TPU was found at a ZnO concentration of 10%, while higher concentrations resulted in a low piezoelectric effect. Ultimately, the energy harvesting of 60 Hz sound signals was enhanced from 15 to 25 V by adding TPU to PVDF/ZnO at a 10% concentration, with total stored energy up to 1.0204 J and corresponding energy density up to 8.7961 J/cm3along with energy storage efficiency up to 80.54%. In conclusion, our findings confirmed that the manufactured piezoelectric nanofibers could transform auditory impulses and noises into electric energy. It holds promise as a cost-effective and innovative solution for extracting acoustic signals from various audio and disturbance sources.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
