Self-poled transparent and flexible UV light-emitting cerium complex-PVDF composite: a high-performance nanogenerator

Cerium(III)-N,N-dimethylformamide-bisulfate [Ce(DMF)(HSO4)3] complex is doped into poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) to induce a higher yield (99%) of the electroactive phases (β- and γ-phases) of PVDF. A remarkable enhancement of the output voltage (∼32 V) of a nanogenerator (NG) based on a nonelectrically poled cerium(III) complex containing PVDF composite film is achieved by simple repeated human finger imparting, whereas neat PVDF does not show this kind of behavior. This high electrical output resembles the generation of self-poled electroactive β-phase in PVDF due to the electrostatic interactions between the fluoride of PVDF and the surface-active positive charge cloud of the cerium complex via H-bonding and/or bipolar interaction among the opposite poles of cerium complex and PVDF, respectively. The capacitor charging capability of the flexible NG promises its applicability as piezoelectric-based energy harvester. The cerium(III) complex doped PVDF composite film exhibit an intense photoluminescence in the UV region, which might be due to a participation of electron cloud from negative pole of bipolarized PVDF. This fact may open a new area for prospective development of high-performance energy-saving flexible solid-state UV light emitters.