High energy harvesting performance in flexible piezocomposites by synergistic design of the piezoelectric phase and conductive phase

Abstract

With the rapid development of the internet of things (IoTs), flexible piezoelectric energy harvesters (FPEHs) with excellent flexibility and high power generation capacity have attracted much attention. In this work, a synergistic design strategy of the piezoelectric phase and conductive phase is proposed to fabricate xBa_0.85Ca_0.15Ti_0.9Zr_0.1O₃/ycarbon nanotubes/poly(vinylidene fluoride) (xBCZT/yCNTs/PVDF) piezocomposites (PCs) with high energy harvesting performance. The increased polar β phase, improved poling efficiency and enhanced electromechanical coupling ability are demonstrated as the main contributors to boost the power generation performance. The open circuit voltage (V_OC) and short circuit current (I_SC) of the 5BCZT/0.1CNTs/PVDF FPEH reach 38 V and 1.1 μA under 1 g acceleration, which is much higher than those in other counterparts. Furthermore, due to the excellent deformation response capacity, the FPEHs are able to harvest the mechanical energy sourced from wind-movement, showing great potential in realizing the self-supply of energy to the wireless sensor nodes.