Applied Materials Today 13 (2018) 91–99

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Applied Materials Today

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apmt

Few layer MoS2 and in situ poled PVDF nanofibers on low cost paper substrate as
high performance piezo-triboelectric hybrid nanogenerator: Energy harvesting
from handwriting and human touch
Parikshit Sahatiya, Santhosh Kannan, Sushmee Badhulika ∗
Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, 502285, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Even though batteries have long been considered as the most conventional and efficient technology
Received 6 July 2018 to power electronic devices, they have limited lifetime and monitoring and replacing them is a never
Received in revised form 10 August 2018 ending task. In order to address this challenge, nanogenerators based on nanomaterials have been devel-
Accepted 17 August 2018
oped with the latest advancement being fabricating novel multi mechanism based nanogenerators which
employ both piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators to not only miniaturize the system but also
Keywords:
to obtain high voltage outputs to power a wide range of devices. In this report, few layer MoS2 was grown
Hybrid nanogenerator
on cellulose paper by hydrothermal method followed by the deposition of in situ poled PVDF nanofibers
Few layer MoS2
In situ poled PVDF
by electrospinning to fabricate piezo-triboelectric hybrid nanogenerator to harvest energy from simple
Cellulose paper substrate manual activities like handwriting and human touch. The hybrid nanogenerator combined with inde-
pendent bridge rectifiers generated peak voltage of ∼50 V, short circuit current of 30 nA and average
power of 0.18 mW/cm2 which is remarkable and even better than most nanogenerators fabricated using
sophisticated and complex cleanroom processes. Further, this report is the first demonstration of solu-
tion processed few layer MoS2 to be utilized as piezoelectric nanogenerator. The work presented here is
beyond harvesting energy and opens up avenues for developing low cost paper based nanogenerators
that generate electricity from simple daily life activities and is an excellent alternative to power wearable
electronic devices from manual activities.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction cients thereby corresponding to the high output voltage. In this

The evolution of renewable electricity generation technologies
is extremely important for consistent economic growth and con-
serving the environment [1]. Batteries have been considered as
the most conventional and efficient technology but are not suit-
able for Internet of Things (IoT) applications owing to their weight
and cost. With trillions of batteries being used all over the world
and each having a limited life time, monitoring, replacing, and recy-
cling them would be a never ending task. Therefore, self-powered
devices are the key to make IoT possible by integrating a nanogen-
erator that converts mechanical energy from human activities into
electric energy [2].
To replace the traditional batteries, several semiconductor
nanostructured piezoelectric materials have been synthesized such
as ZnO [3], GaN [4], and insulating materials such as PbZrTiO3 [5]
and BaTiO3 [6] which possess high piezo electric charge coeffi-
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: sbadh@iith.ac.in (S. Badhulika).
regard, there also has been much interest in 2D materials due to
their electronic structures, chemical, electrical and optical proper-
ties [7]. Particularly, 2D transition metal dichalcogenides MoS2 has
been explored for its unique properties and its applications such
as electronic transistors, photodetectors [8,9]. Recently it has been
reported that MoS2 with odd number of layers possess piezoelectric
property [10]. CVD method has been employed vastly to synthesize
odd layer MoS2 precisely [11,12]. However, production of odd layer
MoS2 in large scale using CVD, considering the cost and other fac-
tors such as complex transfer techniques involved, is still a major
challenge. Hence there is an urgent need to develop new solution
process techniques to grow large area few layer MoS2 which can
then be utilized for developing nanogenerators.
Polymer materials like polyvinyl difluoride (PVDF) exhibit high
piezoelectric property in ␤ phase. There are variety of methods to
synthesize different nanostructured PVDF such as solution casting,
electrospinning, etc. [13]. Most of the processes require PVDF films
to be poled such that they attain ␤ phase which requires applying
high voltages. Recently, there have been reports for in situ PVDF
poling by electrospinning, which inherently requires high voltages

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmt.2018.08.009
2352-9407/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
92 P. Sahatiya et al. / Applied Materials Today 13 (2018) 91–99
to be applied for the formation of nanofibers [14]. Hence the appli-
cation of optimized electric field can result in formation of in situ
poled PVDF.
Apart from piezoelectric, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs)
have recently been explored for fabricating self-powered devices
due to relatively high output and ease of fabrication. Triboelectric
nanogenerators are based on the principle of contact electrifica-
tion wherein electric charge are generated using friction and offers
wide choice of materials, which can be easily integrated to har-
vest energy from contact separation, sliding motion, etc. [15,16].
Although, there should always be a relative displacement between
two frictional layers, continuous touching will lead to balance of
charges. In contrast, for piezoelectric nanogenerator, continuous
touching/vibrations/bending are required to harvest energy from
vibrations. Hence it is highly desirable to fabricate multi mecha-
nism based nanogenerator which employ both piezoelectric and
triboelectric nanogenerators to not only miniaturize the system but
also to obtain high voltage.
Here in, we demonstrate a flexible hybrid nanogenerator (HNG)
comprising of TENG and PENG for harvesting energy from touch
and hand writing on MoS2 -PVDF paper. Few layer MoS2 was grown
on cellulose paper using low cost solution processed hydrothermal
method. ␤ phase PVDF nanofibers were deposited on both sides
of MoS2 -cellulose paper using simple electrospinning technique.
The composite was sandwiched between the copper tape as a top
and bottom electrodes for piezoelectric outputs. Polyimide was
employed on bottom part which served as triboelectric nanogener-
ator (TENG). Cu tape served as contact for TENG. The working area of
the HNG was 3 cm × 3 cm and when stimulated by touching or com-
pressive force, it generates maximum voltage peak of 45 V–50 V. To
demonstrate the practical applicability of the fabricated HNG, hand
writing on hybrid nanogenerator using stylus pen was performed
which recorded the peak to peak voltage of ∼0.5 V. Further, dif-
ferent alphabets written on HNG produced different voltage peaks
which demonstrates the high sensitivity of the device and response
to the shape of the alphabets written on HNG. Also, to demonstrate
the ability of the device to drive electronic components, 3 LEDs con-
nected in series were driven on gentle touch. The proposed HNG is
a major step ahead in the field of hybrid nanogenerators which can
be utilized to harvest energy using simple activities such as human
body motion and writing.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
Sodium molybdate, Thiourea, N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF)
and Poly(vinylidene fluoride) PVDF pellets form with Mw ∼180,000
were commercially procured from Sigma Aldrich and were used as
received.
2.2. Growth of MoS2 on cellulose paper
The growth of few-layered MoS2 nanosheets was performed
by a one-step hydrothermal method recently reported from our
lab [8]. Briefly, a seed solution containing sodium molybdate
(Na2 MoO4 ·2H2 O) and thiourea (CH4 N2 S) in 1:2 ratio was prepared
and the paper substrate was immersed in it. After 30 min, the paper
substrate was dried in a convection oven at 80 ◦ C for an hour. The
seed layer coated substrate was then subjected to hydrothermal
treatment in a nutrient solution comprising of sodium molybdate
and thiourea in a similar proportion as discussed earlier. The nutri-
ent solution with the substrate was a loaded into a Teflon-lined
autoclave followed by which the temperature was maintained at
200 ◦ C for 20 h. The autoclave was then let to cool down naturally
to room temperature after which the MoS2 grown substrate was
dried and stored for further usage.
2.3. Deposition of PVDF nanofibers on MoS2 -cellulose paper using
electrospinning
The electrospinning solution was prepared by dissolving PVDF
pellets (15 wt.%) in DMF solvent for 2 h at 60 ◦ C until viscous solu-
tion ready for electrospinning was obtained. The solution was then
loaded in the syringe and electrospinning was performed with
MoS2 -cellulose paper as collector. Voltage applied was 18 kV with
the flow rate of 20 ␮l/min. Distance between the needle and the
MoS2 -cellulose paper was 10 cm. The thickness of PVDF nanofibers
was varied by the deposition time. The same was repeated on other
side of MoS2 -cellulose paper.
2.4. Fabrication of hybrid nanogenerator
2.4.1. Fabrication of PENG
Trilayer MoS2 was grown on cellulose paper by hydrothermal
method and as-spun piezoelectric PVDF nanofibers were deposited
on MoS2 both the sides top and bottom. The composite was sand-
wiched between the two copper tape which acts as a top and
bottom electrode.
2.4.2. Fabrication of TENG
Polyimide tape was utilized to wrap up the MoS2 -cellulose
paper/PVDF NF/Cu which forms a triboelectric nanogenerator with
polyimide being negative materials and Cu tape being positive
material. Hence both PENG and TENG share the same metal
electrodes. Schematic showing the synthesis and the fabrication
procedure of HNG is as shown in Fig. 1.
2.5. Material characterization
PVDF nanofibers exhibit three different phases such as ␣ phase,
␤ phase, ␥ phase. In these three phases only ␤ phase exhibits
piezoelectric property, to confirm its presence in our as-spun PVDF
nanofibers, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic tech-
niques are used. FTIR spectra of the PVDF nanofiber were recorded
by a Bruker Spectrometer over a range of 500–1750 cm−1 is as
shown in Fig. 2a. The peaks which we obtained had ␣ phase and
␤ phases. ␤ phase was confirmed by the presence of two peaks
839.53 cm−1 and 1274.56 cm−1 corresponds to CH2 rocking/CF2
asymmetrical stretching and C–F stretching vibrations respectively
whereas peaks at 761.25 cm−1 , 877.36 cm−1 and 1400.45 cm−1 cor-
responds to ␣ phase [17].
Further to study the growth of MoS2 on cellulose paper, X-Ray
Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) measurements were performed
for MoS2 grown on cellulose paper to identify the various phases
present in MoS2 . As can be seen in Fig. 2b the Mo 3d3/2 and Mo
3d5/2 peaks are shifted toward lower binding energy of the order
of 0.3–1 eV, when compared to bulk MoS2 , confirming the pres-
ence of metallic 1T phase [18]. The 1T phases, deconvoluted from
Mo 3d spectra, were at comparatively lower binding energy than
2H phase. The 1T and 2H phases for MoS2 were present at 228.7,
232.1 eV and 229.6 and 232.8 eV, upon deconvolution of Mo 3d
spectra [19]. Also, the deconvoluted S2p peak for MoS2 on cellu-
lose paper is present at 161.7 eV and 163.2 eV corresponding to S
2p3/2 and S 2p1/2 as shown in Fig. 2c. The overlap of S 2p spectra, as
evident from 1B with the above values of binding energy indicates
the transformation of MoS2 from octahedral (1T) to stable trigonal
prismatic structure (2H) [20]. To calculate the number of layers of
the MoS2 grown on cellulose paper, Raman spectroscopy was per-
formed wherein the difference in the wavenumber of 21 cm−1 was
observed between the A1g and E12g peaks suggesting the growth of
 P. Sahatiya et al. / Applied Materials Today 13 (2018) 91–99 93

Fig. 1. Schematic showing the synthesis and the fabrication procedure of hybrid nanogenerator comprising of both piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerator.

Fig. 2. (a) FTIR spectra of PVDF nanofibers showing the B phase of PVDF nanofibers. (b, c) XPS spectra of MoS2 grown on cellulose paper. (d) Low magnification FESEM image
of MoS2 on cellulose paper. (e) High magnification image showing microflower like morphology. (f) Deposition of PVDF nanofibers on MoS2 grown on cellulose paper.

trilayer MoS2 . Graph showing the Raman spectra of the MoS2 grown
on cellulose paper can be found in Supplementary information (SI)
as figure S1. Further, high magnification FESEM image demonstrat-
ing that the size of the individual MoS2 nanoflake to be in the range
of 3–4 nm can be found in SI as figure S2.
To study the morphology of the as grown MoS2 and the depo-
sition of PVDF nanofibers, FESEM studies were performed. The
growth of MoS2 on cellulose paper resulted in microflower like
morphology as shown in Fig. 2d and e. Higher magnification FESEM
reveals the individual few layer MoS2 . Details of the growth mech-
anism of MoS2 on cellulose paper and the evolution of nanoflakes
like structure can be found in a recent report from our lab. Fig. 2f
shows the deposition of PVDF nanofibers on MoS2 grown cellulose
paper wherein complete deposition of PVDF nanofibers on MoS2
grown cellulose paper are visible. To demonstrate the growth
of PVDF nanofibers on MoS2 , FESEM studies were performed for
the lesser electrospinning time wherein discrete distribution of
PVDF nanofibers on MoS2 is visible. Figure showing the discrete
94 P. Sahatiya et al. / Applied Materials Today 13 (2018) 91–99
distribution of PVDF nanofibers on MoS2 grown cellulose paper
can be found in SI as figure S3.
3. Working on hybrid nanogenerator
The hybrid nanogenerator comprises of two nanogenerators,
bottom triboelectric NG and top MoS2 /PVDF based functional
piezoelectric NG wherein MoS2 is not a part of triboelectric nano-
generator. The output performance of piezoelectric nanogenerator
depends upon the amount of external strain applied and the
polarization whereas the output of the triboelectric nanogenera-
tor depends upon the separation distance and the contact velocity.
Graph showing the response of the hybrid nanogenerator under
different stress applied can be found in SI as figure S4 wherein incre-
ment in the output voltage generated was observed with increasing
stress. As can be seen in Fig. 3, there is a small air gap between
the two nanogenerators which is used to insulate TENG and PENG
and also serve as separation distance for triboelectric nanogen-
erator. The output charges generated by contact and separation
process by both the nanogenerators superimpose on each other
which effectively increases the power output of the hybrid nano-
generator. At the steady state, MoS2 /PVDF piezoelectric NG and the
polyimide/PVDF are separated by a distance of 7 mm and without
external stress/force applied there would be no charges generated
as shown in 3a. When the external stress is applied on the fab-
ricated hybrid nanogenerator with fingertip, MoS2 /PVDF film is
deformed and generation of piezoelectric charges occurs as shown
in Fig. 3b. Simultaneously, equivalent charges are developed on Cu2
and the upper surface of the polyimide film. It should be noted that
the charges on Cu2 and bottom PVDF nanofiber film are similar
as Cu2 acts as a contact to collect the charges generated on PVDF
nanofiber film. Cu2 and polyimide forms a triboelectric nanogener-
ator wherein negative charges are developed on polyimide. Hence
the piezoelectric current flows from Cu1 to Cu2 and triboelectric
current flows from Cu3 to Cu2 and hence overall charge increases
when both piezoelectric NG and triboelectric NG are connected
in parallel. When the stress is released, the hybrid nanogenera-
tor starts to regain its initial position and in this case, MoS2 /PVDF
experiences compressive strain and generates opposite charges as
compared to the stress/force process and also the neutralization of
the triboelectric charges occurs and hence the current flows in the
opposite direction and also the voltage generated is in the reverse
direction. Since, PENG and TENG are connected in parallel and the
overall charges increases in the opposite direction too.
4. Results and discussions
Hybrid nanogenerator was fabricated in three different dimen-
sions (1 × 1 cm, 2 × 2 cm and 3 × 3 cm) in order to optimize for
enhanced output. These dimensions correspond to the size of the
MoS2 grown on cellulose paper which acts a collector for deposition
of PVDF nanofibers. Electrospinning time for deposition of PVDF
nanofibers on MoS2 -cellulose paper plays an important role in the
output of hybrid nanogenerator and hence the deposition time was
varied for 15 min, 25 min and 35 min. Fig. 4 shows the rectified out-
put for different areas of HNG device. As can be seen from Fig. 4,
highest open circuit voltage is observed for 3 × 3 cm2 . The reason for
the higher response for lager area can be attributed to the fact that
as the area increases, large numbers of charges are developed on
MoS2 /PVDF film upon external stress which increases the output
voltage. Hence, for optimization of deposition of electrospinning
time, 3 cm × 3 cm MoS2 -cellulose paper was taken as collector and
PVDF nanofibers were electrospun for different time (15, 25 and
35 min). Lowest output voltage was observed for 15 min, whereas
for 25 min, the output voltage almost doubles and at 35 min the
output voltage decreased as shown in Fig. 4d. Hence, 25 min was
optimized as deposition time for PVDF nanofibers on different
MoS2 dimensions. The reason for the decrease in the voltage at
the higher deposition time of PVDF nanofibers can be attributed
to the less stress induced on PVDF nanofibers. As the deposition
time of PVDF nanofibers on MoS2 /cellulose paper increases, there
is random deposition of PVDF nanofibers on MoS2 /cellulose paper
substrate which cancels out the piezoelectric voltage by generat-
ing opposite charges on individual nanofibers thereby decreasing
the output voltage. Graphs showing the rectified response of the
hybrid nanogenerator for different electrospinning times can be
found in SI as figure S5. It is important to mention here that two
full bridge rectifiers were utilized that were independently con-
nected to the piezoelectric and triboelectric which results in the
effective combination of the piezoelectric and triboelectric output.
Further, the use of two bridge rectifiers does not degrade the out-
put voltages by different internal resistances of piezoelectric and
triboelectric nanogenerators thereby eliminating the voltage can-
celation effect. Also, rectification of the output signal leads to the
higher power output regardless of the polarization of the PVDF
nanofibers [21]. The individual triboelectric and piezoelectric out-
puts can be found in SI as figure S6 wherein triboelectric voltage
generation was more and sharp when compared to piezoelectric
generation which can be attributed to the fact that the triboelectric
charges are compensated faster than piezoelectric and the residual
strain in piezoelectric MoS2 /PVDF film is maintained. The tribo-
electric output depends upon the separation of distance between
polymeric films which occurs very quickly when the pressure is
applied/released and hence the triboelectric charges are compen-
sated at a faster rate. On the other hand, when pressure is applied
and released the residual strain is still maintained in the MoS2 /PVDF
and hence the output is not as sharp when compared to triboelectric
nanogenerator. To test the hybrid nanogenerator under different
stress applied, individual nanogenerator were subjected to differ-
ent stress applied through human fingertip (soft, moderate and
hard) where it was observed that the output voltage generated
increased with the amount of stress applied. Graph showing the
response of the different stress applied on the nanogenerator for
different area device can be found in SI as figure S7. It should be
noted that the results shown in Fig. 4 are for the repeated hard
touch which generates the maximum output voltage.
In order to verify the piezoelectric response of pristine MoS2
and PVDF nanofibers, experiments were performed to measure the
output piezoelectric voltage of MoS2 grown on cellulose paper and
PVDF deposited on cellulose paper. It was observed that pristine
MoS2 on cellulose paper produced an output voltage of ∼0.7 V as
shown in Fig. 5a whereas pristine PVDF nanofibers produced an
output voltage of ∼2.6 V as shown in Fig. 5b. It should be noted that
PVDF nanofibers were deposited on both sides of MoS2 /cellulose
paper. Recently, it has been reported that odd layers of MoS2 pos-
sesses piezoelectric property wherein the inversion symmetry of
MoS2 breaks resulting in a generation of charge and piezoelectric
polarization. In this case, as evident from FESEM images shown
in Fig. 2e the alignment of MoS2 is not uniform which leads to
the lower piezoelectric output as also reported recently by our
lab [22]. Further, hydrothermal growth of MoS2 leads to random
crystal orientations and layer numbers as evident from Raman
spectroscopy (SI as figure S1). Controlling layer number of MoS2
during hydrothermal reaction is difficult. Further study in terms
of physical explanation is needed to fully understand the gen-
eration of piezoelectric charge generation in few layer solution
processed MoS2 . However, in this case, piezoelectric voltage gener-
ation upon external stress is a strong indication of piezoelectricity
in MoS2 . Similar experiments were performed for PVDF nanofibers
deposited on cellulose paper. ␤ phase of PVDF is known to pos-
sess piezoelectricity and electrospun PVDF nanofibers have been
 P. Sahatiya et al. / Applied Materials Today 13 (2018) 91–99 95

Fig. 3. (a) Structure and (b) working principle of the hybrid nanogenerator and charge distribution on triboelectric and piezoelectric nanogenerator.

Fig. 4. Graphs showing the open circuit voltages for different area of hybrid nanogenerator. (a) 1 cm2 showing an output of ∼12 V. (b) 2 cm2 showing an output of ∼32 V. (c)
3 cm2 showing an output of ∼50 V. (d) Optimization of electrospinning time for PVDF nanofiber deposition.
96 P. Sahatiya et al. / Applied Materials Today 13 (2018) 91–99
Fig. 5. Graphs showing the open circuit voltage of (a) pristine MoS2 grown on cellulose paper, (b) pristine PVDF nanofibers, (c) PVDF nanofibers deposited on MoS2 grown
cellulose paper and (d) pristine triboelectric nanogenerator.
reported to be self-poled due to the application of high electric field
(1.8 kV/cm) [23]. In this case, pristine PVDF nanofiber generated
an open circuit voltage of ∼2.6 V whereas MoS2 /PVDF generated
an open circuit voltage of ∼9.8 V as shown in Fig. 5c which is
higher when compared to their pristine counterparts and hence
was utilized for further studies in fabricating hybrid nanogenerator.
The reason for the higher voltage for the MoS2 /PVDF combination
can be attributed to the formation of series voltage sources which
increases the output voltage. Having established pristine MoS2
and PVDF nanofibers as piezoelectric nanogenerators, when PVDF
nanofibers are deposited on both sides of MoS2 /cellulose paper, it
forms a series combination of 3 voltage source whose charge distri-
bution is shown in Fig. 3b and hence the output voltage increases.
The output performance of the fabricated HNG was mea-
sured by repeatedly providing external strain using human touch.
3 cm × 3 cm area MoS2 grown on cellulose paper with PVDF
nanofibers deposited for 25 min of electrospinning process was uti-
lized for the measurements with independent bridge rectifiers. As
can be seen from Fig. 6a, peak open circuit voltage of ∼50 V was
observed. The short circuit current measured was 30 nA as dis-
played in Fig. 6c. Further, switching polarity test was performed to
confirm the response of the HNG from the piezoelectric and tribo-
electric nanogenerator as shown in Fig. 6b. It should be noted that
the variation of the output signals can be attributed to the different
stresses applied during each cycle. Also, the investigations on exter-
nal load matching for the fabricated HNG were performed as shown
in Fig. 6d. With the increase in the load resistance, decrease in the
maximum output current was observed which can be attributed
to the ohmic loss. Similarly, maximum voltage had the opposite
behavior wherein increase in the maximum output voltage was
observed with increasing load resistors.
5. Applications
5.1. Energy generation by handwriting on fabricated HNG and
driving electronics through touch
To demonstrate the practical applicability of the fabricated HNG,
it was utilized to harvest electrical energy from pressure generated
during mechanical handwriting. The two ends of the fabricated
hybrid nanogenerator were connected to oscilloscope. To mea-
sure the harvested energy from handwriting, a simple stylus pen
was utilized for writing on the fabricated hybrid nanogenerator.
Also, the HNG is fixed on top of a table and the writing was per-
formed in such a way that the exerted pressure is transferred only
to HNG and rest of the body parts i.e. hands are not in contact with
HNG as shown in Fig. 7a. Further, different alphabets were written
on hybrid nanogenerator and interestingly different voltages were
developed for different alphabets written which demonstrates that
the fabricated HNG was highly sensitive to shape of the alphabets
as shown in Fig. 7b.
Further to demonstrate the ability of the HNG to drive electron-
ics components, 3 LEDs were connected in series on breadboard
and were driven by gentle touch on HNG. The current generation in
 P. Sahatiya et al. / Applied Materials Today 13 (2018) 91–99 97

Fig. 6. (a) Open circuit voltage of HNG. (b) Reverse polarity check for HNG showing reversed response. (c) Short circuit current of HNG. (d) Rectified voltage and current for
different load resistors.

Fig. 7. (a) Photograph showing nanogenerator harvesting energy from hand writing. (b) The output voltage achieved while writing on nanogenerator. (c, d) Photographs
showing the ability of HNG to drive LEDs connected in series on a gentle touch.
98 P. Sahatiya et al. / Applied Materials Today 13 (2018) 91–99
the fabricated hybrid nanogenerator is less than the expected value
which can be attributed to the PVDF nanofiber dielectric which hin-
ders the flow of the current. Hence to overcome this issue and to
drive the electronic components, 5 HNG were connected in parallel
which increases the current generated by the nanogenerator which
can further drive the LED. Graph showing the output current of the
nanogenerator when connected in parallel can be found in SI as fig-
ure S8 wherein the current increases as high as 6.3 ␮A. Fig. 7c and d
shows the photographic images of the 3 LEDs being lit by the gentle
touch of human hand on HNG. The above results demonstrate that
as the as fabricated HNG can be utilized for applications such as
smart transport systems, smart homes, wireless and self-powered
sensors and consumer electronics.
There are few reports on fabricating hybrid nanogenerators
based on different nanomaterials with various configurations.
Wang et al. fabricated P(VDF-TrFE) nanofibers and PDMS/MWCNTs
based hybrid nanogenerator for wearable devices [24]. The fab-
ricated hybrid nanogenerator was able to generate maximum of
25 V. Zhu et al. designed complex d-arched hybrid nanogenerator
and demonstrated its application as self-powered vibration sensor
with peak output voltage of ∼20 V [25]. However, piezoelectric and
triboelectric nanogenerator were separately demonstrated and the
actual results of hybrid nanogenerator were not presented. Nour
et al. demonstrated handwriting enabled piezoelectric nanogener-
ator using ZnO/polymer composite on paper substrate. Even though
the concept is interesting, the use of only piezoelectric and the
poor response (4.8 V) restricts in usage in real time applications
[26]. Jung et al. demonstrated high output hybrid nanogenerator
utilizing only PVDF and PTFE films. Even though the fabrication pro-
cedure is simple, the use of polymer films makes the overall cost
of fabrication high. Further, the use of evaporation and sputtering
techniques for deposition of metal contacts requires sophisticated
instruments further increasing the overall cost of the device [21]. In
this work, we demonstrate for the first time utilization of solution
processed few layered MoS2 in fabrication of hybrid nanogenerator.
The cost of the fabricated HNG is ∼0.13$ and can be utilized for large
scale fabrication. The use of both piezoelectricity and triboelectric-
ity output enabled the HNG to deliver more current output then
their pristine counterparts. Also, the use of double bridge rectifier
prevents the cancelation of voltage and also avoids the polarization
of PVDF nanofibers which is a major issue in PVDF based piezo-
electric nanogenerators. Further, the fabricated HNG was utilized
for real time applications such as extracting energy from the hand-
writing wherein the HNG demonstrated different signature outputs
for different alphabets thereby opening up new research avenues
in the field of digital signature verification, security, etc. The fab-
ricated HNG also demonstrates the concept of driving electronics
through human touch without the need of external power sup-
ply. Such a versatile, simple and cost-effective large output power
HNG is an important step in the field of self-powered flexible and
wearable devices which finds potential applications in the field of
sensors, home and industrial security, smart paper for signature
verification, etc.
6. Conclusion
In summary, we demonstrate for the first time hybrid nano-
generator fabricated using solution processed few layer MoS2 and
in situ poled PVDF as piezoelectric nanogenerator connected in par-
allel with polyimide based triboelectric nanogenerator. The use of
two independent bridge rectifiers allowed for the measurement
of the combined output of piezo and triboelectric nanogenerator
thereby enhancing the output. Open circuit voltage, short circuit
current and average power measured for HNG were found to be
50 V, 30 nA and 0.18 mW/cm2 respectively. The as fabricated HNG
was utilized to harvest energy from handwriting with a peak output
voltage of 0.5 V. Also, the HNG produced different voltage signals
for different alphabets written on HNG suggesting that the HNG is
capable of detecting the alphabets having tremendous potential in
applications such as digital signature verification and security. Fur-
ther, the HNG was tested to drive electronic components such as
LEDs wherein 3 LEDs were lit up by a soft touch of human hand. Such
a simple, low-cost technique for fabrication of HNG is a major step
ahead in the flexible nanogenerators which find potential applica-
tions in self-powered sensors for IoT, security, etc.
Acknowledgements
A part of the reported work (characterization) was carried out at
the IITBNF, IITB under INUP which is sponsored by DeitY, MCIT, Gov-
ernment of India. The authors acknowledge the financial assistance
from Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO),
India Grant ERIP/ER/RIC/2015-6/10/M/01/1660.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.apmt.2018.08.009.
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