PDMS-ZnSnO3/Ag2O-Based Nanocomposites for Mechanical Energy Harvesting and Antibacterial Applications

Bacterial fouling of self-powered implantable devices poses severe concerns for device implantation in the human body or water system installation. Here, a piezocomposite based on polydimethylsiloxane-zinc stannate/silver oxide (PDMS-ZnSnO3/Ag2O) has been fabricated and studied for its mechanical energy harvesting capability, as well as its antibacterial activity toward the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium model. The surface decoration of n-type ZnSnO3 nanocubes with p-type Ag2O made an effective bulk p–n heterojunction, which augmented its energy harvesting and biological activities. The maximum output voltage, current, and power density of the fabricated piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) are ∼36 V, ∼1.9 μA, and ∼11.4 μW/cm2, respectively, under finger tapping. The enhanced energy harvesting property has been well explained by the high piezoelectric coefficient of modified nanoparticles obtained from the piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) study. Moreover, the energy conversion efficiency of the PENG estimated during capacitor (10 μF) charging is ∼2.49%. Moreover, a Gram-negative bacterium model is chosen for the biofilm formation study. Biofilm assay, antimetabolite, and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) studies reveal that the piezocomposite containing ZnSnO3/Ag2O is an excellent material for antibacterial activities. Thus, this work has proposed the idea of utilizing an electron-screen-enabled antibacterial piezocomposite, which could efficiently harvest human motion/blue energy incessantly with a specially designed electrode.