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Nanostructured carbon-based polymeric nanocomposites are gaining research interest because of their cost-effectiveness, lightweight, and robust electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance. Till now, it is a great challenge to design and fabricate highly scalable, cost-effective nanocomposites with superior EMI shielding performance. Herein, highly scalable EMI shielding material with tunable absorbing behaviors comprising of low-budget ketjen black (K-CB) reinforced poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanocomposites have been prepared using simple solvent assisted solution mixing technique followed by hot compression technique. The morphological investigation revealed the homogeneous distribution of K-CB and strong interfacial interaction in PMMA matrix, which validated the strong reinforcement and other intriguing properties of the nanocomposites. The PMMA nanocomposites showed a low percolation threshold (2.79 wt%) and excellent electrical conductivity due to the formation of 3D conductive network like architecture within the polymer matrix. Specifically, the 10 wt% K-CB nanocomposite possessed a superior EMI shielding performance of about 28 dB for X-band frequency range. Further, a huge change in EMI shielding performance of PMMA nanocomposites is observed with varying thickness. The brand new K-CB decorated PMMA nanocomposites are expected to open the door for next-generation costeffective EMI shielding materials for academic and industrial applications. KEYWORDS carbon black, electrical conductivity, electromagnetic interference shielding, flexural properties, low percolation threshold, 1 | INTRODUCTION With huge development and popularization of electronic and electrical devices, humankind binds with increasingly electromagnetic (EM) radiation pollution. [1,2] As per the present scenario, it has the [...]

Bacterial fouling of self-powered implantable devices poses severe concerns for device implantation in the human body or water system installation. Here, a piezocomposite based on polydimethylsiloxane-zinc stannate/silver oxide (PDMS-ZnSnO3/Ag2O) has been fabricated and studied for its mechanical energy harvesting capability, as well as its antibacterial activity toward the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium model. The surface decoration of n-type ZnSnO3 nanocubes with p-type Ag2O made an effective bulk p–n heterojunction, which augmented its energy harvesting and biological activities. The maximum output voltage, current, and power density of the fabricated piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG) are ∼36 V, ∼1.9 μA, and ∼11.4 μW/cm2, respectively, under finger tapping. The enhanced energy harvesting property has been well explained by the high piezoelectric coefficient of modified nanoparticles obtained from the piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) study. Moreover, the energy conversion efficiency of the PENG estimated during capacitor (10 μF) charging is ∼2.49%. Moreover, a Gram-negative bacterium model is chosen for the biofilm formation study. Biofilm assay, antimetabolite, and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) studies reveal that the piezocomposite containing ZnSnO3/Ag2O is an excellent material for antibacterial activities. Thus, this work has proposed the idea of utilizing an electron-screen-enabled antibacterial piezocomposite, which could efficiently harvest human motion/blue energy incessantly with a specially designed electrode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) is extensively used as the negative contact material of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), which can harvest universal mechanical energy. Thus, the main focus of research always lies in the enrichment of the output performance of PDMS-based TENGs with the aid of foreign components. Here, for the first time, we have fabricated a single-crystalline tin sulfide (SnS) and embedded multiwall carbon nanotube (CNT) membrane-based efficient and robust single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerator (S-TENG) for biomechanical energy harvesting applications and investigated the effect of single crystallinity on energy harvesting properties. We synthesized the single crystalline SnS by a facile liquid-phase exfoliation method and the CNT membrane by solvent depletion and vacuum-assisted filtration methods. The creation of the SnS layer on the CNT membrane was done by the vacuum-assisted filtration method and by forming a double-layer structure of CNT–SnS, which serves as the active component for TENG fabrication. As a result, the fabricated S-TENG, i.e. PDMS encapsulated CNT–SnS membrane (CNT–SnS/PDMS), produced an open-circuit voltage of ∼252 V and a short circuit current of ∼16 μA under finger tapping, which are three- and six-fold higher than those of the S-TENG without SnS, respectively. The enhancement of surface charge of the CNT–SnS/PDMS system due to ferroelectric polarization was proved by Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) and COMSOL finite element analysis, which is the main reason for the augmentation in output voltage and current. Furthermore, the fabricated system produces fascinating output through piezoelectric phenomena and several biomechanical motions. Thus, this work provides a facile fabrication technique with a minimal quantity of active material for efficient biomechanical energy harvesting and sensing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A negative electrode is constructed based on MnSn(OH)6 nanocubes prepared by a simple precipitation method at room temperature for supercapacitor application. The as-prepared material was structurally and morphologically characterized with the help of XRD, FT-IR, Raman, XPS, FESEM, and HRTEM analyses. The uniform structure and fine edge morphology with high conductivity due to oxygen vacancies promote the redox reaction, which results in high pseudocapacitance. The electrochemical performance is investigated through a three-electrode cell system in a negative potential window (− 1.0 to 0.0 V). A maximum specific capacitance of 209 F/g is calculated at a specific current of 1 A/g. The electrodes also exhibit excellent cycling stability (79% specific capacitance retention after 3000 consecutive GCD cycles). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]