A New Simulation Approach for Performance Prediction of Vertically Integrated Nanogenerators

Abstract

AbstractThe vertically integrated nanogenerator (VING) is one of the most used designs in mechanical energy harvesting using piezoelectric nanowires, due to its easiest manufacturing process. Here, a new modeling approach is presented in order to reduce the computation time of a whole VING finite element simulation. In this work, the effect of the polymer layer (Parylene C), in which nanowires are immersed, on the electromechanical behavior of the whole VING is taken into account. The active part of the VING (nanowires–polymer composite) is considered as a 1–3 piezocomposite. It is formed with ZnO piezoelectric nanowires; however, this study can be applied to any type of piezoelectric nanowires (PZT, GaN, PVDF, etc.) and matrix materials (PDMS, PMMA, Al2O3, etc.). The present method relies on the finite element method applied to a single nanowire‐composite cell in open‐circuit condition, combined with an analytical modeling of the full VING. This approach allows the computation time to be drastically reduced without inducing significant approximation errors. The expected maximum power, internal capacitance, and optimum resistance can be deduced thanks to this efficient modeling tool, offering wide perspectives for the optimization of such VING devices.