A plastic-composite-plastic structure high performance flexible energy harvester based on PIN-PMN-PT single crystal/epoxy 2-2 composite

Abstract

We present a high performance flexible piezoelectric energy harvester constituted by a Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3–Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 (PIN-PMN-PT) single crystal/epoxy 2-2 composite flake, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate, and a PET cover, which is capable of harvesting energy from biomechanical movements. Electrical properties of the device under different epoxy volume fractions, load resistances, and strains are studied systematically. Both theoretical and experimental results show that the plastic-composite-plastic structure contributes to the flexibility of the device, and a high performance bulk PIN-PMN-PT single crystal (a thickness of 50 μm) results in its high electrical output. At a low excitation frequency of 4.2 Hz, the optimal flexible energy harvester (with ve = 21%) can generate a peak voltage of 12.9 V and a maximum power density of 0.28 mW/cm3 under a bending radius of 10.5 mm, and maintain its performance after 40 000 bending-unbending cycles. High flexibility and excellent electrical output at low operational frequency demonstrate the promise of the device in biomechanical motion energy harvesting for wireless and portable low-power electronics.