With the continuous development of wearable electronic devices and IoT sensors, the demand for micro-energy harvesting technologies is rapidly increasing. Among numerous solutions, piezoelectric energy harvesters stand out due to their high energy conversion efficiency and durability, making them a hot topic for research. Piezoelectric energy harvesters can convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, providing self-sustaining power for miniaturized devices.

While traditional inorganic piezoelectric materials exhibit excellent piezoelectric properties, their rigid and brittle mechanical nature limits their application in flexible devices. In contrast, flexible organic piezoelectric materials possess good flexibility and biocompatibility but suffer from lower piezoelectric coefficients, which affect energy conversion efficiency.

Therefore, developing novel flexible composite material systems for piezoelectric nanogenerators that maintain a high level of efficiency in energy harvesting while exhibiting excellent flexible mechanical properties remains a challenge in urgent need of addressing.

To address this issue, Professor Liu Ming's team from the School of Electronic Science and Engineering at Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) proposed a new approach and developed a novel method for constructing piezoelectric nanogenerator composite thin films.

Their research results, titled "Enhanced Piezoelectric Energy Harvester by Employing Freestanding Single-crystal BaTiO3 Films in PVDF-TrFE Based Composites," were published in the internationally renowned academic journal Advanced Functional Materials (IF=19.0).

Doctoral students Peng Ruobo and Zhang Bu are the two primary authors of the study. The research was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Key Research and Development Program.

The publication of the paper advances the application of self-supported ferroelectric single-crystal oxide films in the field of flexible electronics. It not only demonstrates the significant potential of material innovation and structural design in enhancing device performance but also provides new insights for the development of novel flexible electronic devices.