Chapter 9 - Recent advancement in sustainable energy harvesting using piezoelectric materials

Abstract

Piezoelectric materials are of interest as energy harvesters because of their properties, which can convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, and vice versa. Piezoelectric materials as energy harvesters have been reported over the past few decades. Many types of materials and structures have been studied. This concept is fascinating for sustainable energy sources as mechanical energy can be harvested from the environment. Many works have reported on using piezoelectric materials based on fluid/structure interaction-based, human-based, and vibration-based energy-harvesting mechanisms. The absorbed energy could be beneficial to power electronic devices directly or indirectly. Many materials have been studied for various energy-harvesting applications such as energy harvesters in the pavement, power sources for wireless sensors, power sources in microelectromechanical systems, power sources for self-powered sensors and vehicle indicators, and power sources for implantable medical electronics. Moreover, in vivo energy harvesting and internal charging by body activity have recently been reported. Many materials have been studied as piezoelectric energy harvesters such as lead zirconate titanate, barium titanate, zinc oxide, potassium sodium niobate, poly(vinylidene fluoride), aluminum nitride, and nanocrystalline graphene. Recently, piezoelectricity has been combined with electrochemistry, known as piezolectrochemistry, for energy harvesting and storage. Therefore this study discusses recent advancements in materials and structures for sustainable energy harvesting. This development is important for further sustainable energy harvesting in the future.