Sustainable Vibration Energy Harvesting Based on Zr‐Doped PMN‐PT Piezoelectric Single Crystal Cantilevers

In this paper, we present the results of a preliminary study on the piezoelectric energy harvesting performance of a Zr‐doped PbMg_1/3Nb_2/3O₃‐PbTiO₃ (PMN‐PZT) single crystal beam. A novel piezoelectric beam cantilever structure is used to demonstrate the feasibility of generating AC voltage during a state of vibration. The energy‐harvesting capability of a PMN‐PZT beam is calculated and tested. The frequency response of the cantilever device shows that the first mode resonance frequency of the excitation model exists in the neighborhood of several hundreds of hertz, which is similar to the calculated value. These tests show that several significantly open AC voltages and sub‐mW power are achieved. To test the possibility of a small scale power source for a ubiquitous sensor network service, energy conversion and the testing of storage experiment are also carried out.     

应用于压电能量收集器的PZT PZN系陶瓷材料

压电材料作为环境振动能量收集器的核心功能材料,是制备高性能能量收集器的关键。该文从提高能量收集效率入手,研究适合于能量转换的高性能压电陶瓷材料。采用两步合成工艺制备出了0.7Pb(Zr0.51Ti0.49)0.99O3-0.3Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3(PZT-PZN)压电陶瓷,研究了La2O3掺杂对其微观结构和机电性能的影响。实验结果表明,掺杂少量的La2O3能显著提高PZT-PZN陶瓷的压电系数(d33)、机电耦合系数(k31、kp)、介电常数(εr)等。当掺杂量为4%(摩尔分数)时,在1 200℃烧结PZT-PZN,显示出良好的压电和介电性能:d33=560pC/N,k31=0.376,kp=0.642,s1E1=16.5×10-12 m2/N,εr=3 125。     

基于压电振子的振动能量捕获行为研究

压电振子是实现振动能量捕获的重要基础,它的结构参数对其发电量和固有频率产生直接影响,需要进行优化设计.该文针对悬臂梁压电振子结构,采用ANSYS有限元建模方法,进行了静力学及模态仿真分析.研究了压电振子的各参数和质量块对其发电量、固有频率的影响规律,设计并搭建了实验台进行实验研究.实验结果验证了仿真分析的正确性,为压电振子的优化设计提供了依据.     

High‐Performance [001]c‐Textured PNN‐PZT Relaxor Ferroelectric Ceramics for Electromechanical Coupling Devices

[001]_C‐Textured 0.55Pb(Ni_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃–0.15PbZrO₃–0.3PbTiO₃ (PNN‐PZT) ceramics are prepared by the templated grain‐growth method using BaTiO₃ (BT) platelet templates. Samples with different template contents are fabricated and compared in terms of texture fraction, microstructure, and piezoelectric, ferroelectric and dielectric properties. High piezoelectric performance (d₃₃ = 1210 pC N^?1, d₃₃* = 1773 pm V^?1 at 5 kV cm^?1) and high figure of merit g₃₃?d₃₃ (21.92 × 10^?12 m² N^?1) are achieved in the [001]_C‐textured PNN‐PZT ceramic with 2 vol% BaTiO₃ template, for which the texture fraction is 82%. In addition, domain structures of textured PNN‐PZT ceramics are observed and analyzed, which provide clues to the origin of the giant piezoelectric and electromechanical coupling properties of PNN‐PZT ceramics.     

俘能器用无铅压电陶瓷材料的制备与性能测试

压电元件是俘能器的关键元件,但传统的锆钛酸铅(PZT)材料已不能满足人们对环境的要求。采用传统固相反应法制备了新型Ba(Ti0.8Zr0.2)O3-(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3(BZT-BCT)无铅压电材料,并对其进行了一系列的性能测试。通过1 240℃和1 350℃不同烧结温度的对比,制作了性能较理想的压电材料,可满足俘能器环保应用要求。     

Graphene‐Piezoelectric Material Heterostructure for Harvesting Energy from Water Flow

Recently, liquid flow over monolayer graphene has been experimentally demonstrated to generate an induced voltage in the flow direction, and various physical mechanisms have been proposed to explain the electricity‐generating process between liquid and graphene. However, there are significant discrepancies in the reported results with non‐ionic liquid: the observed voltage responses with deionized (DI) water vary from lab to lab under presumably similar flowing conditions. Here, a graphene‐piezoelectric material heterostructure is proposed for harvesting energy from water flow; it is shown that the introduction of a piezoelectric template beneath graphene results in an obvious voltage output up to 0.1 V even with DI water. This potential arises from a continuous charging–discharging process in graphene, which is suggested to be a result of a relatively retarded screening effect of the water for the generated piezoelectric charges than that of the graphene layer, as revealed by first‐principles calculations. This work considers a dynamic charge interaction among water, graphene, and the substrate, highlighting the crucial role of the underlying substrate in the electricity‐generating process, which will greatly enhance understanding of the flow‐induced voltage and push the graphene‐water nanogenerator close to practical applications.     

基于压电材料的振动能量回收技术现状综述

随着微机电系统(MEMS)技术的迅猛发展,基于压电振动的能量回收技术可以为MEMS提供电能,受到国内外众多学者的关注。该文介绍了压电式振动能量回收装置的工作机理;分别从能量回收装置的结构和材料、能量转化的接口电路、能量的存储技术、能量回收的应用实例等方面系统的介绍国内外的主要研究成果和研究进展;并对压电振动能量回收技术的发展方向进行了预测。     

Piezoelectric Nylon‐11 Nanowire Arrays Grown by Template Wetting for Vibrational Energy Harvesting Applications

Piezoelectric polymers, capable of converting mechanical vibrations into electrical energy, are attractive for use in vibrational energy harvesting due to their flexibility, robustness, ease, and low cost of fabrication. In particular, piezoelectric polymers nanostructures have been found to exhibit higher crystallinity, higher piezoelectric coefficients, and “self‐poling,” as compared to films or bulk. The research in this area has been mainly dominated by polyvinylidene fluoride and its copolymers, which while promising have a limited temperature range of operation due to their low Curie and/or melting temperatures. Here, the authors report the fabrication and properties of vertically aligned and “self‐poled” piezoelectric Nylon‐11 nanowires with a melting temperature of ≈200 °C, grown by a facile and scalable capillary wetting technique. It is shown that a simple nanogenerator comprising as‐grown Nylon‐11 nanowires, embedded in an anodized aluminium oxide (AAO) template, can produce an open‐circuit voltage of 1 V and short‐circuit current of 100 nA, when subjected to small‐amplitude, low‐frequency vibrations. Importantly, the resulting nanogenerator is shown to exhibit excellent fatigue performance and high temperature stability. The work thus offers the possibility of exploiting a previously unexplored low‐cost piezoelectric polymer for nanowire‐based energy harvesting, particularly at temperatures well above room temperature.     

Multilevel Structure Engineered Lead-Free Piezoceramics Enabling Breakthrough in Energy Harvesting Performance for Bioelectronics

The prevalence of wearable/implantable medical electronics together with the rapid development of the Internet of Medicine Things call for the advancement of biocompatible, reliable, and high-efficiency energy harvesters. However, most current harvesters are based on toxic lead-based piezoelectric materials, raising biological safety concerns. What hinders the application of lead-free piezoelectric energy harvesters (PEHs) is the low power output, where the key challenge lies in obtaining a high piezoelectric voltage constant (g₃₃) and harvesting figure of merit (d₃₃ × g₃₃). Here, micron pores are introduced into phased boundary engineered high-performance (K, Na)NbO₃-based ceramic matrix, resulting in the state-of-the-art g₃₃ and the highest d₃₃ × g₃₃ values of 57.3 × 10⁻³ Vm N⁻¹ and 20887 × 10⁻¹⁵ m² N⁻¹ in lead-free piezoceramics, respectively. Concomitantly, ultrahigh energy harvesting performances are obtained in porous ceramic PEHs, with output voltage and power density of 200 V and 11.6 mW cm⁻² under instantaneous force impact and an average charging rate of 14.1 µW under high-frequency (1 MHz) ultrasound excitation, far outperforming previously reported PEHs. Porous ceramic PEHs are further developed into wearable and bio-implantable devices for human motion sensing and percutaneous ultrasound power transmission, opening avenues for the design of next-generation eco-friendly WIMEs.     

悬臂梁能量回收装置压电片位置与尺寸优化研究

研究了悬臂梁式压电振动能量回收装置压电片贴片位置和尺寸优化问题。首先分析推导出了应变方程、开路电压方程和压电能量方程,然后提出了运用开路电压和压电能量方程得到压电片的最优贴片位置和最优尺寸的优化方法,最后运用提出的优化方法通过理论计算得到了一、二阶模态下压电片最优贴片位置及最优尺寸,并运用abaqus软件进行了仿真分析。结果表明,理论计算与仿真分析结果基本吻合,一、二阶模态下压电片最优位置分别为梁的根部和中部,最优尺寸均约为梁长的一半。说明提出的压电片位置和尺寸优化方法是正确有效的。     

Strongly (001) Oriented Bimorph PZT Film on Metal Foils Grown by rf‐Sputtering for Wrist‐Worn Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters

For piezoelectric energy harvesters, a large volume of piezoelectric material with a high figure of merit is essential to obtain a higher power density. The work describes the growth of highly (001) oriented sputtered lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films (f ≈ 0.99) exceeding 4 µm in thickness on both sides of an Ni foil to produce a bimorph structure. These films are incorporated in novel wrist‐worn energy harvesters (<16 cm²) in which piezoelectric beams are plucked magnetically using an eccentric rotor with embedded magnets to implement frequency up‐conversion. The resulting devices successfully convert low‐frequency vibration sources (i.e., from walking, rotating the wrist, and jogging) to higher frequency vibrations of the PZT beams (100–200 Hz). Measured at resonance, six beams producing an output of 1.2 mW is achieved at 0.15 G acceleration. For magnetic plucking of a wrist‐worn nonresonant device, 40–50 µW is produced during mild activity.     

Energy Harvesting for Nanostructured Self‐Powered Photodetectors

Harvesting the available forms of energies in the environment to create self‐powered nanosystems is now becoming a technological reality. Self‐powered nanodevices and nanosystems are expected to play a crucial role in the future development of nanotechnology because of their specific role in fundamental studies and nanotechnological applications, mainly due to their size‐dependent properties and independent, sustainable, maintainance‐free operation. As a new field in self‐powered nanotechnology‐related research, self‐powered photodetectors have been developed which exhibit a much faster photoresponse and higher photosensitivity than the conventional photoconductor‐based photodetectors. Herein, the energy‐havesting techniques are discussed and their prospects for application in self‐powered photodetectors are summarized. Moreover, potential future directions of this research area are highlighted.     

Giant Polarization in Quasi-Adiabatic Ferroelectric Na+ Electrolyte for Solid-State Energy Harvesting and Storage

The advent of new solid-state energy storage devices to tackle the electrical revolution requires the usage of nonlinear behavior leading to emergent phenomena. The ferroelectric analyzed herein belongs to a family of electrolytes that allow energy harvesting and storage as part of its self-charging features when thermally activated. The Na_2.99Ba_0.005ClO electrolyte shows quasi-adiabatic behavior with a continuous increase in polarization upon cycling, displaying almost no hysteresis. The maximum polarization obtained at a weak electric field is giant and similar to the remanent polarization. It depends on the temperature with a pyroelectric coefficient of 5.37 C m⁻² °C⁻¹ from −5 to 46 °C. The emergence occurs via negative resistance and capacitance. The glass transition is found to have its origins in the sharp depolarization at 46 – 48 °C. Above –10 °C, at ≈ –5 °C, another thermal anomaly may rely on the topologic characteristics of the A_3–2xBa_xClO (A = Li, Na, K) glass electrolytes enabling positive feedback of the current of electrons throughout the surface of the inner cell. The phenomena may pave the way toward a better understanding of dipolar nanodomain fragile glasses with exceptional ferroelectric characteristics to architect energy harvesting and storage devices based on multivalent thermally activated Na⁺-ion-ion electrolytes.     

Whirling‐Folded Triboelectric Nanogenerator with High Average Power for Water Wave Energy Harvesting

Ocean wave energy, as one of the most abundant resources on the earth, is a promising energy source for large‐scale applications. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) provide a new strategy for water wave energy harvesting; however, its average performance in realistic water wave conditions is still not high. In this work, a whirling‐folded TENG (WF‐TENG) with maximized space utilization and minimized electrostatic shielding is constructed by 3D printing and printed circuit board technologies. The flexible vortex structure responds easily to multiform wave excitation with improved oscillation frequency. A standard water wave tank is established to generate controllable water waves to characterize the device performance. It is found to be determined by wave conditions and internal structure, which is also revealed by a theoretical dynamical analysis. The WF‐TENG can produce a maximum peak power of 6.5 mW and average power of 0.28 mW, which can power a digital thermometer to operate constantly and realize self‐powered monitoring on the TENG network to prevent possible damage in severe environments. Moreover, a self‐charge‐supplement WF‐TENG network is proposed to improve the output performance and stability. This study provides an effective strategy for improving the average power and characterizing the performance of spherical TENG towards large‐scale blue energy.     

Direct Sun‐Driven Artificial Heliotropism for Solar Energy Harvesting Based on a Photo‐Thermomechanical Liquid‐Crystal Elastomer Nanocomposite

Inspired by heliotropism in nature, artificial heliotropic devices that can follow the sun for increased light interception are realized. The mechanism of the artificial heliotropism is realized via direct actuation by the sunlight, eliminating the need for additional mechatronic components and resultant energy consumption. For this purpose, a novel reversible photo‐thermomechanical liquid crystalline elastomer (LCE) nanocomposite is developed that can be directly driven by natural sunlight and possesses strong actuation capability. Using the LCE nanocomposite actuators, the artificial heliotropic devices show full‐range heliotropism in both laboratory and in‐field tests. As a result, significant increase in the photocurrent output from the solar cells in the artificial heliotropic devices is observed.     

Spherical Triboelectric Nanogenerators Based on Spring‐Assisted Multilayered Structure for Efficient Water Wave Energy Harvesting

Making use of water wave energy at large is one of the most attractive, low‐carbon, and renewable ways to generate electric power. The emergence of triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) provides a new approach for effectively harvesting such low‐frequency, irregular, and “random” energy. In this work, a TENG array consisting of spherical TENG units based on spring‐assisted multilayered structure is devised to scavenge water wave energy. The introduction of spring structure enhances the output performance of the spherical TENG by transforming low‐frequency water wave motions into high‐frequency vibrations, while the multilayered structure increases the space utilization, leading to a higher output of a spherical unit. Owing to its unique structure, the output current of one spherical TENG unit could reach 120 µA, which is two orders of magnitude larger than that of previous rolling spherical TENG, and a maximum output power up to 7.96 mW is realized as triggered by the water waves. The TENG array fabricated by integrating four units is demonstrated to successfully drive dozens of light‐emitting diodes and power an electronic thermometer. This study provides a new type of TENG device with improved performance toward large‐scale blue energy harvesting from the water waves.     

Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Harvesting Vibration Energy in Full Space and as Self‐Powered Acceleration Sensor

A spherical three‐dimensional triboelectric nanogenerator (3D‐TENG) with a single electrode is designed, consisting of an outer transparent shell and an inner polyfluoroalkoxy (PFA) ball. Based on the coupling of triboelectric effect and electrostatic effect, the rationally developed 3D‐TENG can effectively scavenge ambient vibration energy in full space by working at a hybridization of both the contact‐separation mode and the sliding mode, resulting in the electron transfer between the Al electrode and the ground. By systematically investigating the output performance of the device vibrating under different frequencies and along different directions, the TENG can deliver a maximal output voltage of 57 V, a maximal output current of 2.3 μA, and a corresponding output power of 128 μW on a load of 100 MΩ, which can be used to directly drive tens of green light‐emitting diodes. Moreover, the TENG is utilized to design the self‐powered acceleration sensor with detection sensitivity of 15.56 V g^‐1. This work opens up many potential applications of single‐electrode based TENGs for ambient vibration energy harvesting techniques in full space and the self‐powered vibration sensor systems.     

Super‐Flexible Nanogenerator for Energy Harvesting from Gentle Wind and as an Active Deformation Sensor

Using an Al‐foil of thickness ≈18 μm as a substrate and electrode, a piezoelectric nanogenerator (NG) that is super‐flexible in responding to the wavy motion of a very light wind is fabricated using ZnO nanowire arrays. The NG is used to harvest the energy from a waving flag, demonstrating its high flexibility and excellent conformability to be integrated into fabric. The NG is applied to detect the wrinkling of a human face, showing its capability to serve as an active deformation sensor that needs no extra power supply. This strategy may provide a highly promising platform as energy harvesting devices and self‐powered sensors for practical use wherever movement is available.