Piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composite for energy storage and harvesting applications

Abstract

Recently, the application of piezoelectric materials in energy storage and energy harvesting has received considerable attention. Among them, piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composites have good dielectric and piezoelectric properties as well as high flexibility, thus making them an outstanding candidate in energy-related applications. In this study, we investigated the preparation and electromechanical properties and simulations of the composites: 1. PbTiO3-PVDF composites with 70% ceramic powder; 2. the design of a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) cantilever beam energy harvester and the optimization of the design by COMSOL simulation; 3. PVDF/Al2O3 thick films, and three layers of pure PVDF/Composite/pure PVDF composite, and the evaluation for energy storage application. PVDF composite with 70 vol% PbTiO3 showed d33 of 45 pC/N. 2-DOF cantilever with micro-fiber composite (MFC) sheet could generate power of 1.08 mW and output voltage of 28 V. Multilayer composite PVDF thick films with Al2O3 fillers showed recovery energy density of 1.08 J/cm2 and efficiency of 71%.