A flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator using conducting polymer and silver nanowire hybrid electrodes for its application in real-time muscular monitoring system

[Display omitted] •PNG based on PEDOT-C6:DS and Ag nanowires hybrid electrode is presented.•PEDOT-C6:DS plays important role in PNG, as it has good electrical conductivity with hydrophobic surface and uniform conducting network on PVDF.•PNG with Ag nanowires and 1 wt% PEDOT-C6:DS as a hybrid electrode exhibits higher piezoelectric response than the Ag nanowires. In the present work, a flexible piezoelectric nanogenerators (PNGs) using poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) as an active layer with hybrid electrode is demonstrated. Here, a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) derivative, poly(2-hexyl-2,3-dihydrothieno[3,4-b][1,4]dioxine:dodecyl sulfate (PEDOT-C6:DS) was introduced. The polymer material has a good solubility and dispersion with organic solvents. Also, the polymer has a good electrical conductivity with hydrophobic surface and uniform conducting network on PVDF. The device performance of hybrid layer with a type of uniformly covered silver nanowire (AgNWs) network and synthesized PEDOT-C6:DS with different concentration as an electrode has been tested. This PNG exhibit superior energy harvesting performance with maximum piezoelectric output voltage and current 7.02 V and 1.11 μA, at 8 Hz operating frequency, respectively. The fabricated hybrid electrode PNG (1.5 cm × 2.5 cm) generates a maximum output power of 1.18 μW. The fabricated PNG device is capable to lit up white LEDs and charged a commercial capacitor of 1 μF with charged voltage 2.68 V in 80 s. Further, with the results obtained it is confirmed that the 1 wt% PEDOT-C6:DS is a promising material for hybrid electrodes in electronic applications.