Scavenging Energy Sources Using Ferroelectric Materials

Abstract

Ferroelectric materials have attracted interest for over a hundred years as a result of their spontaneous polarization and a polarization orientation that can be reversed by the application of an external electric field. In addition, the degree of polarization can be affected by external stimuli such as vibrations, stress, heat, and light. These properties enable ferroelectric materials to be used to fabricate nanogenerators, which are devices used in energy scavenging applications and provide an opportunity to obtain electrical energy from a variety of external stimuli. This review discusses the development of ferroelectric-based nanogenerators for scavenging mechanical, thermal, and solar energies through the piezoelectric effect, pyroelectric effect, and photovoltaic effect, respectively. The mechanisms of the effects and the pathways to optimize the output performance of the nanogenerators are analyzed in detail. Recent developments in energy harvesting using ferroelectric materials are discussed with the objective to motivate attention and efforts in this growing field.

Ferroelectric Materials Based Coupled Nanogenerators

“…The piezoelectric coefficient d evinces piezoelectric material performance and is anisotropic. The subscripts i and j indicate the directions of dielectric displacement and applied stress, respectively [112]. Ferroelectric materials (such as PZT, KNN, and PMN) with morphotropic (MPB) or polymorphic phase boundary (PPB) relate to the rotation of polarization and indicate the presence of multiple phases within the material, show exceptional piezoelectric response, and piezoelectric coefficient [113,114] BTO; PVDF has also been studied widely in piezoelectric harvesters of mechanical energies, known as piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENG).…”

Perspective on the development of high performance flexible piezoelectric energy harvesters

“…along with the discussions on FPEHs in part. [54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70] Essentially, articles covering topics entirely on FPEHs have a larger scope to discuss materials, device designs and/or applications of FPEHs. One of such articles by Sezer et al deals with piezoelectric energy harvesting from materials and application perspectives.…”

High Efficiency Water Splitting using Ultrasound Coupled to a BaTiO3 Nanofluid

“…The functional nature of a ferroelectric material has led to investigations for a range of energy conversion technologies. [ 13 ] Since the 1980s there has been a recognition of the anomalous photo‐voltage for ferroelectric materials, where above band gap voltages are produced under illumination. [ 14 ] This has been associated with the ferroelectric dipole and led to a range of studies to investigate the photo‐induced surface chemistry of ferroelectric materials.…”