Performance enhancement of nanogenerator achieved in branch-heterostructure piezoelectric ceramic fiber towards electrical transmission power line monitoring

“In this report, we synthesized a new piezoelectric ceramic fiber by chemical method and coaxial electrospinning technology, where BCZT@Ag nanoparticles are grown on the surface of BCZT fibers to form a branch-heterostructure. This new fiber can be used as an excellent piezoelectric filler to prepare high performance flexible composites-based PENG. This branch-heterostructure, on one hand, induces an enhanced effective polarization field through the “capacitive effect” to improve polarization efficiency; on the other hand, when the PENG undergoes compressive deformation, a large number of Schottky barriers are formed at the interface between Ag and nano-BCZT particles, effectively enhancing the directional charge transport mechanism. It is the synergistic effect that significantly improves the output performance of the PENG.” said Haowei Lu, professor at School of Physics and Electronics, Henan University (China), a material science expert whose research interests focus on the field of piezoelectric ceramic materials and relevant Internet of Things perception application.

The team published their work in Journal of Advanced Ceramics on September 8, 2025.

The 20 wt% branch-heterostructure ceramic fiber doped PVDF to prepare PENG exhibits superior dielectric (ε~24，tanθ~0.08 at 100 Hz ) and piezoelectric properties (d₃₃~55 pC×N^-1), with significantly enhanced outputs of 96.4 V and 15.52 µA under 30 N mechanical pressure—approximately 3.2 and 6.5 times higher than those of PENG without specific design.

“The excellent electrical output performance is the key factor for its efficient integration with energy management circuits and signal recognition systems in sensing applications.” said Haowei Lu. Subsequently, a sensing system for monitoring vibration in power grid transmission lines was constructed by combining the high-performance PENG with signal processing circuits, wireless communication circuits and machine learning technologies. This system can preliminarily identify three operating states of anti-vibration device of power lines, including normal, abnormal and failure, with an identification accuracy of up to 96%, demonstrating its potential application in ensuring the safe operation of power grids.

However, more delicate research works are still needed to promote the practical application of PENG-based self-powered grid sensing system proposed by Lu, including improving PENG output performance, optimizing integration with circuit systems, achieving complete self-powering and more accurately assessing the operating status of complex power lines.

Other contributors include Wenlong Yang from the School of Measurement and Communication Engineering, Harbin University of Science and Technology, China; Junhui Liu, from the School of Physics and Electronics, Henan University, China; Benlin Hu from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 62204075).

About Author

Haowei Lu is a professor in School of Physics and Electronics, Henan University. He received his PhD degree in Material Science from Harbin University of Science and Technology in 2019. His research activity is focused on piezoelectric and ferroelectric ceramic materials, piezoelectric/friction nanogenerator design and their IoT applications. He has published over 20 research articles as the first and corresponding author in journals such as Nano Energy, J. Adv. Ceram., Small, ACS Appl. Mater. Inter., Appl. Phys. Lett. Email: sadearl@163.com

Wenlong Yang is a professor in School of Measurement and Communication Engineering, Harbin University of Science and Technology. His main research focuses on the interaction mechanisms between light and matter, and he is dedicated to the design and application exploration of optical fiber sensors and intelligent instruments. He has published over 60 SCI research articles as the first and corresponding author in journals such as Nano Energy, Nano. Res., J. Mater. Chem. C, and Opt. Express. Email: wlyang@hrbust.edu.cn

Junhui Liu is a professor in School of Physics and Electronics, Henan University. Research areas: optoelectronic conversion and optical energy utilization, optoelectronic detection and sensing, nonlinear optics. He has published over 20 SCI research articles in international authoritative journals such as Optics Express. Email: liujh@henu.edu.cn

Benlin Hu, a researcher from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has long been engaged in the synthesis, device preparation, and performance regulation of organic functional materials (especially elastic electronic materials). He has published nearly 40 research articles in high-level academic journals both domestically and internationally, including top-tier international journals such as Science, J. Am. Chem. Soc., and Angew. Chem. Int. Ed..

About Journal of Advanced Ceramics

Journal of Advanced Ceramics (JAC) is an international academic journal that presents the state-of-the-art results of theoretical and experimental studies on the processing, structure, and properties of advanced ceramics and ceramic-based composites. JAC is Fully Open Access, monthly published by Tsinghua University Press, and exclusively available via SciOpen. JAC’s 2024 IF is 16.6, ranking in Top 1 (1/33, Q1) among all journals in “Materials Science, Ceramics” category, and its 2024 CiteScore is 25.9 (5/130) in Scopus database. ResearchGate homepage: https://www.researchgate.net/journal/Journal-of-Advanced-Ceramics-2227-8508