Flexible amino acid-based energy harvesting for structural health monitoring of water pipes

Favour Okosun,Sarah Guerin,Mert Celikin,Vikram Pakrashi

doi:10.1016/j.xcrp.2021.100434

Favour Okosun, Sarah Guerin + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2021.100434

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Abstract

Summary Biomolecular piezoelectric materials offer an inexpensive, non-toxic, and renewable alternative to current commercial piezoelectrics, which rely on toxic heavy elements. Currently, there is a lack of testing for real-world applications of these eco-friendly crystals. Here, we validate an amino acid-based sensor capable of real-time detection of pipe leakage, a global challenge for sustainable water access. The polycrystalline device demonstrates data-driven decision making in identifying degraded pipelines, exploiting the relationship between leak-induced vibration and piezoelectric voltage. The device has piezoelectric strain and voltage constants of 0.9 pC/N and 60 mV m/N. Peak voltage of ∼2 V is recorded in the low-dielectric film at high flow rates and large leak size. The glycine crystal sensors demonstrate much higher sensitivity than PVDF polymer patches. The sensors can operate over a range of test leak sizes, with the energy content of the worst leak state being >10 times that of a healthy pipe.

Highlights

In the past 10 years, biological piezoelectric materials have emerged as the potential generation of cost-effective, green electromechanical sensors.[1,2,3] The piezoelectric voltages produced under an applied force are inversely proportional to the dielectric constant of the material, and so even ‘‘weak’’ organic piezoelectrics can generate large voltages in response to strain
Biomolecular piezoelectric materials offer an inexpensive, nontoxic, and renewable alternative to current commercial piezoelectrics, which rely on toxic heavy elements
Peak voltage of $2 V is recorded in the low-dielectric film at high flow rates and large leak size

Summary

Introduction

In the past 10 years, biological piezoelectric materials have emerged as the potential generation of cost-effective, green electromechanical sensors.[1,2,3] The piezoelectric voltages produced under an applied force are inversely proportional to the dielectric constant of the material, and so even ‘‘weak’’ organic piezoelectrics (with modest piezoelectric constants compared to inorganic ceramics4,5) can generate large voltages in response to strain. We experimentally validate flexible glycine-based sensors for pipe leak detection and monitoring in real time for a variety of flow rates and leak sizes using a custom fluid test rig developed for the validation of PVDF patches.[26] This is the first time that glycine crystals have been grown and characterized as a high-concentration, polycrystalline aggregate for piezoelectric sensing.

Results

Conclusion