Research Projects

The limited recycling process of batteries and air pollution caused by fossil fuel fragmentation are contributing to global warming and deteriorating human life quality. The search for clean, green, and sustainable power sources is highly demanded, with nanogenerator-based energy conversion devices being a promising solution. These devices can harvest energy from water waves, winds, and other forms of mechanical energy from daily life bioactivities. Nanogenerators are classified into piezoelectric, pyroelectric, electromagnetic, and triboelectric, depending on their energy conversion functionality. Triboelectric (TENG)-based nanogenerators have various self-powered applications, such as self-charging power cells, wearable electronics, defense, pressure sensors, and photocatalysis. However, most materials used in TENG devices are dominated by metals and polymers, raising environmental concerns. The challenge facing materials science is the continuous search for advanced materials with properties that satisfy rapidly evolving technology demands. Nanostructured metal oxides and their composites have been of great interest due to their excellent thermal, composition, and structural dependent properties, easy fabrication, and multifunctional behaviors. High entropy oxides (HEOs), a form of metal oxides with five or more elemental components incorporated into a single lattice, have promising but yet to be explored multifunctional properties, providing greater flexibility for energy storage, harvesting, catalysis, and more. This proposal proposes preparing single-phase novel HEOs using cost-effective planetary ball milling techniques under ambient conditions at reduced milling time. The aim is to characterize their structural, surface potential, electronic, electrical, magnetic, vibrational, and optical properties and explore their suitability in nanogenerators for biomechanical energy harvesting and self-powered applications.

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