Flexoelectric energy harvesters utilizing controllably wrinkled micro-dielectric film

Shengkai Su, Huaiwei Huang and Zheng H. Zhu

Energy, 2021, vol. 224, issue C

Abstract: Self-powered electronic devices require energy harvesting systems to support their energy needs, but their energy harvesting efficiency seems still insufficient. In this paper, a flexoelectric energy harvester based on controllable wrinkling mechanism is theoretically proposed to enhance the energy harvesting efficiency. The dielectric film, partly bonded to a pre-stretched substrate, wrinkles after release to achieve controllable wavy shapes. A harmonic cyclic post-stretch is employed to stimulate the generation of electric charges. Meanwhile, an electrode-regrouping technique is resorted to optimize the energy harvesting efficiency. Formulation toward this problem includes both the flexoelectricity and piezoelectricity of dielectrics. Theoretical prediction indicates that electrode-regrouping technique can effectively act to relieve neutralization of the charges induced mainly by flexoelectricity and thus improve the energy harvesting efficiency of FEHs. A larger loading frequency and a lower resistance are preferred to optimize the effective power. The power density of the present FEHs is at least 1 orders of magnitude higher than that of vibrational FEHs under micro-scale. Meanwhile, with the scale shrinking below 100 nm, the energy density of the present FEHs may exceed 104W/m3 which is generally 2–4 orders of magnitude higher than that of most vibrational energy harvesters (including electrostatic, electromagnetic, piezoelectric types).

Keywords: Energy harvester; Electromechanical coupling; Flexoelectricity; Wrinkling; Dielectrics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544221003054
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:224:y:2021:i:c:s0360544221003054

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2021.120056

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().