Lead-free KNbO3 ferroelectric nanorod based flexible nanogenerators and capacitors

In spite of high piezoelectricity, only a few one-dimensional ferroelectric nano-materials with perovskite structure have been used for piezoelectric nanogenerator applications. In this paper, we report high output electrical signals, i.e. an open-circuit voltage of 3.2 V and a closed-circuit current of 67.5 nA (current density 9.3 nA cm(-2)) at 0.38% strain and 15.2% s(-1) strain rate, using randomly aligned lead-free KNbO3 ferroelectric nanorods (similar to 1 mu m length) with piezoelectric coefficient (d(33) similar to 55 pm V-1). A flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator is mainly composed of KNbO3-poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) composite sandwiched by Au/Cr-coated polymer substrates. We deposit a thin poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) layer between the KNbO3-PDMS composite and the Au/Cr electrode to completely prevent dielectric breakdown during electrical poling and to significantly reduce leakage current during excessive straining. The flexible KNbO3-PDMS composite device shows a nearly frequency-independent dielectric constant (similar to 3.2) and low dielectric loss (<0.006) for the frequency range of 10(2)-10(5) Hz. These results imply that short and randomly aligned ferroelectric nanorods can be used for a flexible high output nanogenerator as well as high-k capacitor applications by performing electrical poling and further optimizing the device structure.