Energies (Aug 2022)

Review on Innovative Piezoelectric Materials for Mechanical Energy Harvesting

  • Giacomo Clementi,
  • Francesco Cottone,
  • Alessandro Di Michele,
  • Luca Gammaitoni,
  • Maurizio Mattarelli,
  • Gabriele Perna,
  • Miquel López-Suárez,
  • Salvatore Baglio,
  • Carlo Trigona,
  • Igor Neri

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/en15176227
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 17
p. 6227

Abstract

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The huge number of electronic devices called the Internet of Things requires miniaturized, autonomous and ecologically sustainable power sources. A viable way to power these devices is by converting mechanical energy into electrical through electro-active materials. The most promising and widely used electro-active materials for mechanical energy harvesting are piezoelectric materials, where the main one used are toxic or not biocompatible. In this work, we focus our attention on biocompatible and sustainable piezoelectric materials for energy harvesting. The aim of this work is to facilitate and expedite the effort of selecting the best piezoelectric material for a specific mechanical energy harvesting application by comprehensively reviewing and presenting the latest progress in the field. We also identify and discuss the characteristic property of each material for each class to which the material belong to, in terms of piezoelectric constants and achievable power.

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