Synergistic interaction of Neodymium Manganite (NdMnO3) nanoparticles and Reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) to enhance the polar β phase crystallization in P(VDF-TrFE) for piezoelectric applications

NdMnO3 nanoparticles are synthesized by sol gel method after sintering them at 800 degrees Celsius. The average size of the nanoparticles is found to be 17 nm which is much smaller than the previous reported. The study investigates how rGO affects the structure, microstructure, and phase of perovskite. Using X-Ray powder diffraction data and employing Rietveld Refinement Technique Mn-O and Nd-O bond lengths and Mn-O-Mn bond angles were calculated. The Π electrons present in rGO interact with NPs and distort its structure. The tilting of MnO6 octahedron shows the Jahn Teller distortion in NdMnO3 which has significantly improve the electrical properties. The optimised 0.1NMO-rGO nanocomposite loading in polymer P(VDF-TrFE) enhance the piezoelectric β phase crystallinity to more than 50 % and the P-E hysteresis loop shows remnant polarization, Pr=82μC/cm2 and coercive field, Ec=20MV/m which is much higher than earlier reported studies. Also, the piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) device fabrication from this optimized value of nanofiller shows open circuit voltage of ∼3.7Volts and short circuit current of ∼9μA by human finger tapping at very low frequency ∼2 Hz. The short circuit output current of polymer nanocomposite is 9 times higher from pristine P(VDF-TrFE). This output performance of polymer nanocomposite shows the excellent power generating capability of the novel material and has the potential role in energy harvesting applications. •The synergistic interaction of in-situ polymer nanocomposite NdMnO3/rGO/P(VDF-TrFE) to enhance the polar β-phase .•The Jahn-Teller distortion due to interaction with rGO lead to the formation of dipoles in the polymer nanocomposite.•The (200/110) plane reflection intensity rises to more than 50 % in thin film of in-situ polymer nanocomposite.•When a human finger is tapped at a very low frequency, the PENG displays Voc of 3.7 Volts and Isc of 9μA.