Ag Nanoparticle-Incorporated Natural Rubber for Mechanical Energy Harvesting Application
Pawanrat Suphasorn,
Intuorn Appamato,
Viyada Harnchana,
Prasit Thongbai,
Chalathorn Chanthad,
Chomsri Siriwong,
Vittaya Amornkitbamrung
Affiliations
Pawanrat Suphasorn
Materials Science and Nanotechnology Program, Faculty of Science, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Intuorn Appamato
Materials Science and Nanotechnology Program, Faculty of Science, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Viyada Harnchana
Department of Physics, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Prasit Thongbai
Department of Physics, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Chalathorn Chanthad
National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC), NSTDA, 111 Thailand Science Park, Paholyothin Road, KlongLuang, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand
Chomsri Siriwong
Materials Chemistry Research Center, Department of Chemistry and Center of Excellence for Innovation in Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
Vittaya Amornkitbamrung
Department of Physics, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
The energy conversion performance of the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is a function of triboelectric charges which depend on the intrinsic properties of materials to hold charges or the dielectric properties of triboelectric materials. In this work, Ag nanoparticles were synthesized and used to incorporate into natural rubber (NR) in order to enhance the dielectric constant for enhancing the electrical output of TENG. It was found that the size of Ag nanoparticles was reduced with the increasing CTAB concentration. Furthermore, the CTAB surfactant helped the dispersion of metallic Ag nanoparticles in the NR-insulating matrix, which promoted interfacial polarization that affected the dielectric properties of the NR composite. Ag nanoparticle-incorporated NR films exhibited an improved dielectric constant of up to almost 40% and an enhanced TENG performance that generated the highest power density of 262.4 mW/m2.
