Electrospun PAN/BaTiO3/MXene nanofibrous membrane with significantly improved piezoelectric property for self-powered wearable sensor

The power supply system is an important part of modern electronic equipment. Traditional batteries have disadvantages such as large volume and poor flexibility. Nanogenerators possess characteristics such as miniaturization, sustainable power supply, and independence from external energy sources. In this work, a piezo-triboelectric hybridized nanogenerator is developed. Barium titanate (BaTiO3) and MXene (Ti3C2) are incorporated into the electrospinning process of polyacrylonitrile (PAN), resulting in an electrospun PAN/BaTiO3/MXene nanofibrous membrane with significantly enhanced piezoelectric properties in comparison with the pure PAN fibrous membrane. Meanwhile, the electronegative properties of the PAN/BaTiO3/MXene nanofibrous membrane are augmented as the negative layer during contact and separation friction. The piezoelectric output voltage of the PAN/BaTiO3/MXene nanofibrous membrane reaches up to 6.4 V. When a nickel-copper conductive fabric is used as the positive layer, the piezo-triboelectric hybridized nanogenerator produces an output voltage of 11.3 V, an output current of 300nA, and a maximum output power density of 3.4 mW·m−2 over a contact-separation area of only 2 × 2 cm2. In addition, given that MXene itself exhibits excellent photothermal conversion ability, the PAN/BaTiO3/MXene nanofibrous membrane can be quickly heated up to about 54℃ under near-infrared irradiation at a power of 0.8 W·cm−2, highlighting its potential in photothermal-therapy applications.