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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Chem.
Sec. Electrochemistry
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fchem.2024.1525034
This article is part of the Research Topic Energy and Environmental Sustainability through Electrochemistry in South Korea View all 4 articles

Low-Cost High Performance Piezoelectric Fabrics Based on Nylon-6 Nanofibers

Provisionally accepted
Nosang Vincent Myung Nosang Vincent Myung 1*Dong-Jun Kwon Dong-Jun Kwon 2Yun Young Choi Yun Young Choi 1JoAnna Milam-Guerrero JoAnna Milam-Guerrero 1
  • 1 University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, United States
  • 2 Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South Gyeongsang, Republic of Korea

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    To fully harness the potential of smart textiles, it is cruical to develop energy harvesters which can function both as fabric and energy generator. In this work, we present a high performance low-cost piezoelectric nano-fabric using even-number Nylon (i.e., Nylon-6). Nylon-6 was chosen for optimal mechanical properties such as mechanical strength and stiffness. To maximize the voltage output, Nylon 6 nanofibers with varying diameter and crystallinity were synthesized by adjusting the polymer precursor and solvent, along with electrospinning parameters, followed by post thermal treatment. The average diameter of electrospun nanofibers was finely tuned (down to 36 nm) by adjusting solution polymer precursor content and electrospinning parameters. The content of desired piezoelectric-active γ crystal phase enhanced upto 76.4% by controlling solvent types and post thermal annealing. The highest peak to peak voltage (V33) of 1.96 V were achieved from γ-phase dominant (>60%) Nylon-6 nanofiber fabric which has an average nanofiber diameter of 36 nm with high fiber fraction (i.e., > 98%). Unlike its thin film counterpart, piezoelectric electrospun nanofiber fabric demonstrated durability against wear and washing. This work paves a new way to utilize Nylon-6 nanofibers in next generation electronic textiles.

    Keywords: piezoelectric, Nanogenerator, Electrospinning, nanofiber, e-textile, Smart fabric

    Received: 08 Nov 2024; Accepted: 14 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Myung, Kwon, Choi and Milam-Guerrero. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nosang Vincent Myung, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.