No Charging but Protection: Lifetime Prolongation of Spontaneously-polarized Electrets for Energy Harvesting Applications

Abstract

With no need for separate charging processes, spontaneously-polarized electrets are gaining increased attention, particularly in energy harvesting. However, vulnerability to environmental factors, like illumination, moisture, or mechanical contact may cause a rapid loss of surface potential, rendering their suitability for real-world applications uncertain. To enhance their stability—focusing on a wind energy harvesting application—a bilayer protection is proposed, consisting of zinc sulfide and polystyrene thin films. A bare 1,3,5-Tris(1-phenyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)benzene (TPBi) sample loses 35% of initial surface potential after 16 h of light exposure, and nearly the entire of that upon water contact or mechanical impact with a grounded counter-electrode. Implementing a bilayer protection comprising a 50 nm-thick zinc sulfide film and an 11.8 μm-thick titanium dioxide-doped polystyrene layer, despite introducing fabrication-related losses, reduces surface potential photodegradation to 3.5% of initial value. Moreover, 14.4 μm-thick polystyrene layers doped with zinc oxide and titanium dioxide nanoparticles best protect TPBi, so that almost no surface potential decay is observed after 2-min full-surface water contact, and after 100 000 impacts with grounded counter-electrode, respectively. The effects of the aforementioned protections on Tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum (Alq₃) are comparable to those on TPBi against water contact and mechanical impact, but significantly less pronounced under light.

Keywords

dipole co-orientation / electrostatic surface potential / opto-electromechanical protection / photodegradation / spontaneously-polarized electret material / wind energy harvesting

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