•Hybrid piezoelectric fibers, metal wires and cotton threads were woven into a fabric nanogenerator.•The electrodes are naturally integrated in the fabric so that the device looks similar to the conventional fabrics.•By attaching the fabric nanogenerator on an elbow pad, the output power of the nanogenerator is large enough to power a LCD.Wearable nanogenerators are vital important for wearable devices and portable electronic devices. Here we report a flexible hybrid piezoelectric fiber based two-dimensional fabric nanogenerator which can be promising to be easily integrated with clothing and convert the mechanical energy of human body motion into electric energy. The hybrid piezoelectric fiber comprised aligned BaTiO3 nanowires and PVC polymer. The PVC polymer made the fiber be enough flexible for performing the woven process and the aligned BaTiO3 nanowires enhanced the piezoelectric properties as active materials. The metal copper wires and cotton threads were woven into the fabric to construct the nanogenerator with interdigited electrodes. By attaching the fabric nanogenerator on an elbow pad which was bended by human arms, the nanogenerator can generate 1.9 V output voltage and 24 nA output current and the output are large enough to power a LCD.Textual abstract: Wearable nanogenerators are vital important for wearable devices and portable electronic devices. Here we report a flexible hybrid piezoelectric fiber based two-dimensional fabric nanogenerator which can be promising to be easily integrated with clothing and convert the mechanical energy of human body motion into electric energy. The hybrid piezoelectric fiber as active materials comprised aligned BaTiO3 nanowires and PVC polymer. The metal copper wires and cotton threads were woven into the fabric to construct the nanogenerator with interdigited electrodes. By attaching the fabric nanogenerator on an elbow pad which was bended by human arms, the nanogenerator can generate 1.9 V output voltage and 24 nA output current and the output are large enough to power a LCD.

•<001> Oriented BaTiO3 nanowires were successfully assembled in PVC polymer to form high-strength piezoelectric microfiber via spinning technique.•The reinforced mechanism of output performance of the fiber was studied and analyzed.•A flexible single fiber based wearable nanogenerator was fabricated and demonstrated the energy harvesting of human body motion.A super flexible nanogenerator based on BaTiO3 nanowires- polyvinyl chloride(PVC) composite single fiber was reported. The fabricating process of the nanogenerator consists of three main steps. In the first step, the <001> oriented BaTiO3 nanowires are prepared by topochemical synthesis. Secondly, the BaTiO3 nanowires-polymer composite fibers were fabricated by spinning method, and the BaTiO3 nanowires with high aspect ratio were assembled into PVC matrix to form composite fibers. The shearing stress during the spinning process make the BaTiO3 nanowires uniformly align along the fiber. Finally, BaTiO3 nanowire-polymer composite fibers were transferred onto a receiving substrate which has been covered with interdigital electrodes previously by ink-printing. The single highly <001> oriented BaTiO3 nanowire-polymer fiber based nanogenerator (SFBNG) demonstrated an output voltage up to 0.9 V and an output current up to 10.5 nA when the nanogenerator was fixed on human finger and the finger was bended. This research opens up the path for improve the robustness and output performance of wearable, especially textile nanogeneragtors.A single fiber–based nanogenerators present a good performance as wearable device for harvesting the energy of human movement. The spinning process makes the BaTiO3 nanowires aligned in the PVC matrix. The superior performance of the single fiber–based nanogenerator (SFBNG) may be attributed to both the high piezoelectric constant and the mechanical property. A maximum output voltage of 0.9V and output current of 10.5nA were obtained from the SFBNG when it bending by the finger movement. The enhanced performance, the flexibility and ultrahigh tensile strength of the composite fiber make it a promising materials for energy harvesting as wearable generators.

Polycarbosilane (PCS) fibers are cured by electron beam irradiation in helium. Then, the cured fibers are pyrolyzed under hydrogen. The mechanisms of carbon removal during pyrolysis are investigated using chemical elemental analysis, FTIR, Raman, and AES analysis. The development of microstructure and phase is examined by SEM, TEM, and XRD. The results show that the thermal cleavage of relatively weak Si–H and Si–CH3 bonds takes place first during pyrolysis in hydrogen, generating free radicals. The free radicals then react with C–H bonds or with each other to form Si–CH2–Si groups, releasing hydrogen and methane. As temperature increases, the Si–CH2–CH2–Si groups in PCS begin to dissociate and react with hydrogen to form methane, resulting in the further removal of carbon and giving silicon-rich silicon carbide fibers (i.e. C/Si <1).