Recent Advances in Pyroelectric Materials and Applications

Abstract

As one important subclass of piezoelectric materials, pyroelectric materials have caused increasing attention owing to the unique pyroelectric effect induced by spontaneous polarization, showing broad promising application prospects due to various electrical responses induced by time‐dependent temperature variation. This review systematically introduces the pyroelectric effect and evaluation of pyroelectric materials and follows by analyzing and concluding the novel properties corresponding to four kinds of main pyroelectric materials. The emphasis of this review focuses on several significant and practical applications of pyroelectric materials in thermal energy harvesting from the external environment, pyroelectric sensing, and imaging, even some electrochemical applications including hydrogen generation, wastewater treatment, sterilization, and disinfection. Finally, the development direction of pyroelectric materials, potential challenges and opportunities in the future are all discussed and proposed. Through systematical conclusion and analysis of the latest research progress in the recent two decades, this review may provide significant guide and inspiration in the development of pyroelectric materials.

Integrated Photothermal‐Pyroelectric Biosensor for Rapid and Point‐of‐Care Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Convergence of Theoretical Research and Commercialization

“…Conversely, the electric dipoles tend to cluster closer together as the temperature is decreased (d T /d t < 0), which is mostly due to the fact that the process is an entropy reduction, leading the electric dipoles to oscillate with a tiny offset in their respective axes of arrangement, requiring the free charges to be redistributed to compensate for the potential provided by the shielding charges, while producing currents in opposing directions on the surface. [ 28,31 ]…”

“…The unique pyroelectric capabilities caused by pyroelectric materials under spontaneous polarization have attracted the interest of researchers as a significant subclass of piezoelectric materials. [27][28][29][30] In nature, equilibrium is the law that governs all things. Pyroelectric bodies display a pyroelectric effect, which is profoundly manifested in the change of selfpolarizing potential with temperature change, resulting from the equilibrium between the built-in electric and depolarizing electric fields.…”

The effect of metal surface nanomorphology on the output performance of a TENG

“…They can use forms of renewable energy that are widely available in the environment and can replace non-renewable resources such as coal and oil [3]. In order to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, various methods were developed, such as electromagnetic generators [4][5][6], piezoelectric materials [7][8][9][10], and pyroelectric materials [11,12]. The underlying principles of TENGs converting mechanical energy into electrical energy are the friction electrification effect and the electrostatic induction principle.…”

Enhanced Pyroelectric Performance of Lead-Free Zn-Doped Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3-BaTiO3 Ceramics

“…Pyroelectric materials have been widely investigated for various industrial applications, such as infrared detectors, thermal cameras, sensors, medical devices, etc. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. In addition to these applications, waste thermal energy conversion for low-power electronic devices and battery-less wireless sensor applications receive significant industrial and academic interest [ 4 ].…”

“…Among the investigated lead-free materials, Na 1/2 Bi 1/2 TiO 3 and its solid solution are promising because of their ease of fabrication. K 0.5 Na 0.5 NbO 3 (KNN) and Ba 0.85 Ca 0.15 Zr 0.1 Ti 0.9 O 3 (BCZT) also exhibit promising piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties; however, fabrication of KNN is difficult compared to NBT-based compositions [ 1 , 11 ]. Na 1/2 Bi 1/2 TiO 3 -xBaTiO 3 (NBT-BT) has been studied by various researchers, at 6–7 mole% BT, wherein it exhibits a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) and features high remanent polarization, large piezoelectric constant (d 33 ) and low coercive field [ 12 , 13 ].…”