Thermal and mechanical energy harvesting using piezoelectric ceramics

• Published in: Materials research express 2019-02, Vol.6 (2), p.25701
• Main Authors: Chavez, Luis A, Elicerio, Victor F, Regis, Jaime E, Kim, Hoejin, Garcia Rosales, Carlos A, Love, Norman D, Lin, Yirong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: energy harvesting; hybrid energy harvesting; load optimization; Materials Science; piezoelectric; pyroelectric
• ISSN: 2053-1591; 2053-1591
• DOI: 10.1088/2053-1591/aaef09

The field of energy harvesting has drawn an increased amount of interest due to the rapid development of wireless sensors and self-powered devices. Currently, there is limited information regarding the impact of coupling both thermal and mechanical excitations in a single material and its energy harvesting capabilities. This paper demonstrates the use of Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) as a coupled thermal and mechanical energy harvesting device. PZT ceramic was subjected to different thermal and mechanical loading conditions. Under pure mechanical cycling the sample consistently generated the least power output averaging less than 200 nW. An increase in power output was observed under mechanical cycling and higher temperatures. A peak power of 500 nW was seen under both, thermal cycling, as well as under coupled thermal-mechanical cycling. This study demonstrated the feasibility to harvest different waste energies from a single device.