Rapid Fabrication of Microporous BaTiO3/PDMS Nanocomposites for Triboelectric Nanogenerators through One-step Microwave Irradiation

Even though porous elastomers and elastomeric nanocomposites have shown many advantages for triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), their fabrication techniques are relatively complicated, inefficient, and time-consuming. In this work, we introduced a simple, efficient and rapid concept to fabricate porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) nanocomposites. PDMS nanocomposites with various porous structure were produced within a few minutes through just one-step microwave irradiation without any post-processing. Three solvents with different boiling points were selected as sacrificial materials to control porous structure. To fabricate nanocomposites, BaTiO3 (BT) nanoparticles were mixed into the uncured PDMS and sacrificial solvent mixture. Additionally, Ni nanoparticles were also used to understand the effect of embedded material's property on porous structure. The porous BT/ PDMS nanocomposites fabricated via microwave irradiation greatly enhanced the electrical performance of TENGs as compared to a pure solid elastomer. The present study provides a simple, rapid and inexpensive approach for fabricating TENGs based on porous elastomeric nanocomposites.