Investigation of the Possibilities of Using Ionic Polymer-Polymer Composites as Energy Harvesters

Ionic polymer-polymer composites (IP
²
C) have been developed and studied as energy harvesters. IP
²
C consists of a porous ion-exchange polymer, the surface of which is coated on both sides with conductive polymer electrodes. PEDOT:PSS and PANI obtained by drop-casting method and oxidative polymerization of aniline respectively were used as electrodes. It has been found that IP
²
C harvesters are characterized by linear dependence of output signal amplitude from displacement amplitude in the range of 0.1...2 cm. The mechanoelectrical conversion coefficient for structures with PEDOT:PSS and PANI electrodes was 3.3 mV/cm
²
and 4 mV/cm
²
respectively. The IP
²
C structures with the PANI electrodes are capable of generating a signal with a higher amplitude than in the case of PEDOT:PSS electrodes, which is explained by the difference in the manufacturing techniques. A battery charging circuit using an IP
²
C harvester has been developed and methods for increasing the output signal have been proposed.