Executive Summary : | The increasing energy demand has led to the exhaustion of non-renewable energy sources, necessitating the development of sustainable and renewable energy harvesting technologies. Materials with ferroelectric properties are ideal for mechanical energy harvesting, such as high-power output devices and wearable electronics. Inorganic bulk oxides like perovskites and ceramics have been dominant in piezoelectric energy harvesting due to their superior properties but are unsuitable for wearable devices and biomedical applications due to their toxicity, stability, brittleness, and high cost of synthesis. Flexible polymers like polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and its copolymers are preferred due to their high piezoelectric polarization but are difficult to stabilize their desirable electroactive phase. Some environmentally friendly bioorganic materials can be exploited for mechanical energy harvesting applications, but their fabrication and testing are complex and time-consuming. Molecular complexes, which can address most of the challenges in traditional inorganic oxides and polymers, are ideal for this purpose. Distinct molecular ferroelectric can be achieved through soft chemical routes, which are environment-friendly, precise synthetic control, lightweight, mechanical flexibility, and easy polarization in the presence of an electric field. However, controlling the crystallization point group of these molecules is a challenging task.
The proposal aims to overcome these hurdles through molecular engineering, identifying bio-compatible and less toxic molecules for bio-medical applications. Once identified, their energy harvesting efficiency will be tested, and systematic studies will help understand the structure-property correlations. |