Abstract
Flexible piezoelectric energy harvesters have the potential to be used as power sources for wearable electronics. This study presents a simple printing-based fabrication process for a flexible piezoelectric energy-harvesting module with an integrated and optimized surface mount device (SMD)-based full-wave diode bridge rectifier. We investigate the effect of the electrode configuration on the energy-harvesting performance of the piezoelectric elements. Two types of piezoelectric elements are fabricated [a metal–insulator–metal (MIM) structure and an interdigitated electrode (IDE) structure] for comparison. The electrodes are inkjet printed using poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS), and the piezoelectric layer is bar-coated using poly (vinylidene-fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)). The results show that a higher output power density can be obtained with the MIM-based energy harvester (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$7.8~\mu \text{W}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>/cm<sup>3</sup>) when compared to the IDE-based harvester (20.8 nW/cm<sup>3</sup>). Simulation results show that this is explained by the higher current output (i.e., charge generation ability) of the MIM-based structure.
Highlights
THE rapid advance of wearable electronics has enabled the development of devices with high flexibility, conformability, and ultralight weight with advanced functionalities for being used in a broad range of applications [1]–[5]
Among the different energy harvesting mechanisms, mechanical energy harvesting has been widely studied owing to the abundant mechanical energy in the environment, especially by using mechanical energy harvesting based on piezoelectric elements [9]–[13]
While in most of the studies the performance of the piezoelectric elements is characterized for energy harvesting applications, the design and integration of the rectifier circuit has not been studied for the most common piezoelectric element structures (i.e., metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure and interdigitated electrode (IDE) structure)
Summary
THE rapid advance of wearable electronics has enabled the development of devices with high flexibility, conformability, and ultralight weight with advanced functionalities for being used in a broad range of applications (e.g. biosignal monitoring, electronic textiles, and smarts watches) [1]–[5]. It is required to study alternatives to enable the development of self-powered wearable devices without compromising their flexibility and conformability. Energy harvesting techniques enable the use of self-powered devices by eliminating the need of recharging and replacing batteries. While in most of the studies the performance of the piezoelectric elements is characterized for energy harvesting applications, the design and integration of the rectifier circuit has not been studied for the most common piezoelectric element structures (i.e., metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure and interdigitated electrode (IDE) structure). We study the performance of piezoelectric elements for energy harvesting applications. The piezoelectric element was integrated to a full-wave diode bridge rectifier to form a flexible piezoelectric energy harvesting module. The energy harvesting module was developed using a simple process based on additive fabrication technologies. To minimize the power loss of the rectifying stage, we analyze the effect of the diode parameters when used with these types of piezoelectric elements
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