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Flexible Lead‐Free Piezoelectric Composite Materials for Energy Harvesting Applications
Author(s) -
Stuber Vincent L.,
Deutz Daniella B.,
Bennett James,
Cannel David,
de Leeuw Dago M.,
van der Zwaag Sybrand,
Groen Pim
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
energy technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 2194-4296
pISSN - 2194-4288
DOI - 10.1002/ente.201800419
Subject(s) - materials science , piezoelectricity , ceramic , composite material , energy harvesting , composite number , brittleness , piezoelectric coefficient , figure of merit , polydimethylsiloxane , optoelectronics , energy (signal processing) , statistics , mathematics
Vibrational piezoelectric energy harvesters are being investigated to replace batteries in embedded sensor systems. The energy density that can be harvested depends on the figure of merit, d 33 g 33 , where d 33 and g 33 are the piezoelectric charge and voltage coefficient. Commonly used piezoelectric materials are based on inorganic ceramics, such as lead zirconium titanate (PZT), as they exhibit high piezoelectric coefficients. However, ceramics are brittle, leading to mechanical failure under large cyclic strains and, furthermore, PZT is classified as a Substance of Very High Concern (SVHC). To circumvent these drawbacks, we fabricated quasi 1–3 potassium sodium lithium niobate (KNLN) ceramic fibers in a flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix. The fibers were aligned by dielectrophoresis. We demonstrate for the structured composites values of d 33 g 33 approaching 18 pm 3 J −1 , comparable to that of state‐of‐the‐art ceramic PZT. This relatively high value is due to the reduced inter‐particle distance in the direction of the electric field. As a confirmation, the stored electrical energy for both material systems was measured under identical mechanical loading conditions. The similar values for KNLN/PDMS and PZT demonstrate that environmentally friendly, lead‐free, mechanically compliant materials can replace state‐of‐the‐art environmentally‐less‐desirable ceramic materials in piezoelectric vibrational energy harvesters.