Printed Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Device

Abstract

Mechanical strain energies in the form of movements/vibrations caused by human, machine or wind are available all around us in large quantities. A substantial amount of this renewable energy can be harvested by using piezoelectric devices. [ 1 ] Various piezoelectric energy harvesting devices (PEHDs) have been reported, mainly targeting small area applications. For example, small area PEHDs are effi cient enough to harvest substantial quantity of biological energy by human movement or by body bending. [ 2 ] According to a recent report, a mixture of BaTiO 3 nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes dispersed in a polymer matrix can generate up to 3.2 V. [ 3 ] BaTiO 3 thin fi lm based nanogenerators have been reported with an output voltage of 1.0 V and a current density of 0.19 μ A cm -2 . [ 4 ] A hybrid nanogenerator based on ZnO nanowire/poly(vinylidene fl uoride-trifl uorethylene) has been reported with output voltage, current density and power density of 0.1 V, 10 nA cm -2 and 16 μ W cm -3 , respectively. [ 5 ] Piezoelectric power generation from ZnO fi lm can be enhanced 18-fold by an addition of a p-type semiconducting polymer on top of it. [ 6 ] All these PEHDs are developed to harvest mechanical strain energy only from small areas. However, PEHDs can be used to harvest mechanical strain energy available on larger areas too. For example, PEHDs placed on a fl oor can generate energy when people walk over it. A large area sheet of PEHD in the form of a fl ag can be hung outside to harvest energy from wind. Production of large area PEHDs requires a method that can produce them in a cost effective manner with a high production speed. Roll-to-roll printing techniques, i.e., gravure, fl exography, offset and screen, can be effectively used to produce PEHDs for large area applications. These are wellestablished production techniques, available all over the world for printing applications. An advantage of fl exography printing is that it is a relatively inexpensive printing process, used mostly for package printing. For a larger area printing, which does not require a high resolution, it is a suitable production technique. In the last decade many innovative electronic components have been developed by using roll-to-roll printing methods. [7][8][9] Recently, our group has reported printed organic solar cells on a roll of paper by using gravure and fl exographic printing methods. [ 10 ] We also have reported piezoelectric loudspeakers printed by fl exography on a paper substrate. [ 11 ] Here, we report on a PEHD that is fully printed by the fl exographic printing method in ambient conditions. Although lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is one of the best piezoelectric materials, its application in energy harvesting is limited because of its mechanical rigidity. Recently, many approaches have been made to develop fl exible PZT based PEHDs, i.e., PZT ribbons and PZT fi ber composite. [ 12,13 ] As PEHDs generate alternating currents (AC), they can not be used directly to run most of the electronic devices, which require DC current...

Screen printed passive components for flexible power electronics

“…Recent years have seen the development of a wide variety of flexible devices for applications in wearable and large-area electronics and the Internet of Things 1 2 . These include energy harvesting devices such as photovoltaics 3 , piezoelectrics 4 , and thermoelectrics 5 ; energy storage devices such as batteries 6 7 ; and power-consuming devices such as sensors 8 9 10 11 12 and light sources 13 . While a great deal of progress has been made on the individual energy sources and loads, combining these components together into a complete electronic system typically also requires power electronics to overcome any mismatch between the source behavior and the loads’ requirements.…”

3D Printing of Multilayered and Multimaterial Electronics: A Review

“…Various types of energy harvesting devices have been attempted using printed electronics technology, the common ones are the solar cells [ 199 ] and piezoelectric energy harvesting device. [ 200 ] For solar cells, the energy harvesting process involves the absorption of light energy from the environment and converts the energy into electrical energy through the active layer. Like the light‐emitting device, solar cells possess multilayered architectures, the different layers are the back electrode, electron donor layer, photoelectric layer, electron acceptor layer, and the top contact electrode.…”

“…Reproduced with permission. [ 200 ] Copyright 2014, Wiley, c) 3D printing of a freestanding lithium‐ion battery. Reproduced with permission.…”

Flexible ferroelectric wearable devices for medical applications

“…For example, Ali et al. ( Ali et al., 2014 ) developed a fully printed piezoelectric ZnO/polymer hybrid diode-based rectifier on a PET substrate. A printed piezoelectric device exhibited output voltage of 0.425 V. The output voltage increased linearly with the number of the printed devices connected in series.…”