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Abstract
Piezoelectric polymers are emerging as exceptionally promising materials for energy harvesting. While the theoretical figures of merit for piezoelectric polymers are comparable to ceramics, the measurement techniques need to be retrofitted to account for the different mechanical properties of the softer polymeric materials. Here, how contact electrification, including friction and contact separation, is often mistaken for piezoelectric charge is examined, and a perspective for how to separate these effects is provided. The state of the literature is assessed, and recommendations are made for clear and simple guidelines in reporting, for both sample geometry and testing methods, to enable accurate determination of piezoelectric figures of merit in polymers. Such improvements will allow an understanding of what types of material manipulation are required in order to enhance the piezoelectric output from polymers and enable the next generation of polymer energy harvester design.
Highlights
Energy harvesting systems are attracting widespread interest for the conversion of mechanical to electrical energy, with applications ranging from micron-scale vibration to human motion to largescale energy recovery systems
As the measurement of the piezoelectric output is driven by electrostatic induction, any other effect that causes charge to flow between the electrodes can add to the measured output, and mistaken for piezoelectricity
Polymer piezoelectric materials are a field complicated by the complexities of device fabrication, and confusion between the measurement of the piezoelectric effect and contact electrification from interfacial slip and friction
Summary
Energy harvesting systems are attracting widespread interest for the conversion of mechanical to electrical energy, with applications ranging from micron-scale vibration to human motion to largescale energy recovery systems. Of these energy harvesters, polymeric materials are exceptionally promising for human motion and miniaturized systems. At the scale of human motion two fundamental devices dominate the energy harvesting landscape, piezoelectric generators (PEGs) and triboelectric generators (TEGs) While these energy generators produce the same output, namely voltage and charge, the fundamental mechanism that gives rise to the energy generation/harvesting is different.[2] This difference in mechanism of energy generation/harvesting has implications for how PEG or TEG devices are deployed. We discuss the origins of triboelectric charge in piezoelectric measurements and how the measurement techniques, and reporting in literature, can be improved in order to provide more accurate piezoelectric figures of merit
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