Piezoelectric Surface Research Articles

Shear horizontal waves in composite materials: Behavior under rotation and initial stress

The main scope of this paper is to present in a simple and concise way a mathematical model of composite materials able to describe the propagation of shear horizontal waves in the case where composite is rotating and subjected to an initial stress. This work is aimed at the relevant possibility to apply the obtained results for the establishment of high-achievement applications of piezoelectric and semiconductor composites and surface acoustic waves devices. We conclude by analyzing numerical computations in which the influence of the rotation, initial stress and electromagnetic boundary conditions are graphically observed.

Surface energy effect on buckling behavior of the functionally graded nano-shell covered with piezoelectric nano-layers under torque

In this paper, based on the electro-elastic surface/interface theory, the size-dependent effect on the torsional buckling behavior of functionally graded (FG) cylindrical nano-shell covered with piezoelectric nano-layers is studied. According to the classical shell theory together with von-Karman-Donnell type kinematics of nonlinearity, the primary formulations are given. The total energy of the nano-shell is derived by introducing the constitute relations for piezoelectric surfaces and interfaces. The principle of minimum potential energy is employed to establish the governing differential equations. An analytical solution is firstly presented, and then the generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method is used to obtain the numerical results of nano-shells with different boundary conditions. Afterwards, the results without surface/interface effect are compared with the datum in the open literatures, and some numerical examples are presented to investigate the effect of surface/interface parameters and power-law index on the critical buckling load of the nano-shell.

Nanoscale electromechanical and electronic properties of free-standing ZnO nano- and microstructured platelets

The piezoelectric response, conductivity and surface potential of individual grains and grain boundaries in free-standing polycrystalline ZnO nano- and microstructured platelets is studied using scanning probe based techniques on the nanoscale. We find that applied dc electric fields can alter the piezoresponse in individual grains, as well as the local nanoscale conductivity, and invert the relative surface potential at grain boundaries. This can be attributed to defect accumulation at the grain surfaces and at grain boundaries and the associated density of carriers. Together with recently observed below-bandgap photoconductivity at grain boundaries, the presented observation opens new venues for potential nanoelectronic applications that rely on grain and grain boundary engineering and functionality in a wide-bandgap transparent material.

Piezoelectric Pre-Stressed Bending Mechanism for Impact-Driven Energy Harvester

This paper experimentally demonstrates and evaluates a piezoelectric power generator bending mechanism based on pre-stressed condition whereby the piezoelectric transducer being bended and remained in the stressed condition before applying a force on the piezoelectric bending structure, which increase the stress on the piezoelectric surface and hence increase the generated electrical charges. An impact force is being exerted onto bending the piezoelectric beam and hence generating electrical power across an external resistive load. The proposed bending mechanism prototype has been manufactured by employing 3D printer technology in order to conduct the evaluation. A free fall test has been conducted as the evaluation method with varying force using a series of different masses and different fall heights. A rectangular piezoelectric harvester beam with the size of 32mm in width, 70mm in length, and 0.55mm in thickness is used to demonstrate the experiment. It can be seen from the experiment that the instantaneous peak to peak AC volt output measured at open-circuit is increasing and saturated at about of 70V when an impact force of about 80N is being applied. It is also found that a maximum power of about 53mW is generated at an impact force of 50N when it is connected to an external resistive load of 0.7KΩ. The reported mechanism is a promising candidate in the application of energy harvesting for powering various wireless sensor nodes (WSN) which is the core of Internet of Things (IoT).

Topology optimization of flexoelectric structures

We present a mixed finite element formulation for flexoelectric nanostructures that is coupled with topology optimization to maximize their intrinsic material performance with regards to their energy conversion potential. Using Barium Titanate (BTO) as the model flexoelectric material, we demonstrate the significant enhancement in energy conversion that can be obtained using topology optimization. We also demonstrate that non-smooth surfaces can play a key role in the energy conversion enhancements obtained through topology optimization. Finally, we examine the relative benefits of flexoelectricity, and surface piezoelectricity on the energy conversion efficiency of nanobeams. We find that the energy conversion efficiency of flexoelectric nanobeams is comparable to the energy conversion efficiency obtained from nanobeams whose electromechanical coupling occurs through surface piezoelectricity, but are ten times thinner. Overall, our results not only demonstrate the utility and efficiency of flexoelectricity as a nanoscale energy conversion mechanism, but also its relative superiority as compared to piezoelectric or surface piezoelectric effects.

Effects of a piezoelectric substrate on phonon-drag thermopower in monolayer graphene

The phonon-drag thermopower is studied in a monolayer graphene on a piezoelectric substrate. The phonon-drag contribution from the extrinsic potential of piezoelectric surface acoustic (PA) phonons of a piezoelectric substrate (GaAs) is calculated as a function of temperature T and electron concentration ns. At a very low temperature, is found to be much greater than of the intrinsic deformation potential of acoustic (DA) phonons of the graphene. There is a crossover of and at around ~5 K. In graphene samples of about >10 µm size, we predict Sg ~ 20 µV at 10 K, which is much greater than the diffusion component of the thermopower and can be experimentally observed. In the Bloch–Gruneisen (BG) regime T and ns dependence are, respectively, given by the power laws () ~ T2(T3) and , ~ . The T(ns) dependence is the manifestation of the 2D phonons (Dirac phase of the electrons). The effect of the screening is discussed. Analogous to Herring’s law (Sgμp ~ T−1), we predict a new relation Sgμp ~ , where μp is the phonon-limited mobility. We suggest that the ns dependent measurements will play a more significant role in identifying the Dirac phase and the effect of screening.

A piezoelectric magnetic molecularly imprinted surface sensor for the detection of Sudan I

Abstract Magnetic nanoparticles that act as carriers of magnetic molecularly imprinted surface polymers (MMISPs) have been harnessed to produce a magnetic molecularly imprinted, piezoelectric surface sensor for the detection of Sudan I. The MMISP was characterized by ultraviolet and infrared spectroscopy as well as transmission electron microscopy. Test results show that this MMISP-modified piezoelectric sensor was effective at detecting Sudan I, with the sensor displaying perfect selectivity and high sensitivity, with a detection limit of 2 μg/L, and response time of 3.5 s. The reproducibility of the sensor was satisfactory due to P > 0.05, indicating that there is no statistical difference between the data obtained by the intra- and inter-batch methods. When applied to a real example, recovery testing indicated that the sensor effectively detected Sudan I in pepper.

Modified Continuum Mechanics Modeling on Size-Dependent Properties of Piezoelectric Nanomaterials: A Review.

Piezoelectric nanomaterials (PNs) are attractive for applications including sensing, actuating, energy harvesting, among others in nano-electro-mechanical-systems (NEMS) because of their excellent electromechanical coupling, mechanical and physical properties. However, the properties of PNs do not coincide with their bulk counterparts and depend on the particular size. A large amount of efforts have been devoted to studying the size-dependent properties of PNs by using experimental characterization, atomistic simulation and continuum mechanics modeling with the consideration of the scale features of the nanomaterials. This paper reviews the recent progresses and achievements in the research on the continuum mechanics modeling of the size-dependent mechanical and physical properties of PNs. We start from the fundamentals of the modified continuum mechanics models for PNs, including the theories of surface piezoelectricity, flexoelectricity and non-local piezoelectricity, with the introduction of the modified piezoelectric beam and plate models particularly for nanostructured piezoelectric materials with certain configurations. Then, we give a review on the investigation of the size-dependent properties of PNs by using the modified continuum mechanics models, such as the electromechanical coupling, bending, vibration, buckling, wave propagation and dynamic characteristics. Finally, analytical modeling and analysis of nanoscale actuators and energy harvesters based on piezoelectric nanostructures are presented.

Modeling of a nanoscale flexoelectric energy harvester with surface effects

This work presents the modeling of a beam energy harvester scavenging energy from ambient vibration based on the phenomenon of flexoelectricity. By considering surface elasticity, residual surface stress, surface piezoelectricity and bulk flexoelectricity, a modified Euler-Bernoulli beam model for the energy harvester is developed. After deriving the requisite energy expressions, the extended Hamilton's principle and the assumed-modes method are employed to obtain the discrete electromechanical Euler-Lagrange's equations. Then, the expressions of the steady-state electromechanical responses are given for harmonic base excitation. Numerical simulations are conducted to show the output voltage and the output power of the flexoelectric energy harvesters with different materials and sizes. Particular emphasis is given to the surface effects on the performance of the energy harvesters. It is found that the surface effects are sensitive to the beam geometries and the surface material constants, and the effect of residual surface stress is more significant than that of the surface elasticity and the surface piezoelectricity. The axial deformation of the beam is also considered in the model to account for the electromechanical coupling due to piezoelectricity, and results indicate that piezoelectricity will diminish the output electrical quantities for the case investigated. This work could lead to the development of flexoelectric energy harvesters that can make the micro- and nanoscale sensor systems autonomous.

Electromechanical scale-bridging model for piezoelectric nanostructures

In past experimental studies, piezoelectric nanostructures have exhibited extraordinary behavior and unusual deformations. In order to establish the corresponding theoretical framework, a scale-bridging model, which takes into account surface piezoelectricity and the wave nature of electrons in ultra-narrow media by reflecting lattice distortions of atomic structures, has been proposed in this work. After applying this model to ZnO nanofilms with thicknesses ranging between 0.3 nm and 2.8 nm, asymmetric lattice distortions of the Zn- and O-terminated surfaces were observed and subsequently quantified using a lattice distortion factor. The material characteristics evaluated by using this model were found to be in good agreement with the results of first-principles calculations and corresponding experiments, and thus can be used for predicting the properties of thicker nanofilms. After bridging to the continuum scale, the data produced via finite element analysis significantly differed from the results obtained by the conventional model, owing to the unusual deformations caused by the nano-sized material properties and asymmetric surface characteristics. The obtained results help to achieve a better understanding of the properties of piezoelectric nanostructures with extraordinary characteristics and, therefore, can be used for the nanostructural design.

A Novel Blood Coagulation Measuring Method Based on the Viscoelasticity of Non-Newtonian Fluid

There are complex and perfect coagulation, anticoagulation and fibrinolysis systems in the human body and their fine regulatory mechanisms. Once the coagulation system and its regulatory mechanisms are destroyed, bleeding or thrombosis will occur very soon. In the blood coagulation, the blood viscoelasticity changes. Therefore, the thrombus elasticity measurement technology can be used to continuously monitor the changing blood viscoelasticity in order to study the process of coagulation. The results of the interaction among the various components of the blood can be obtained from coagulation to fibrinolysis by bedside detection. The traditional electromagnetic induction sensors, based on conventional coil inductance, are manufactured complexly, high cost and non-linear. Therefore, this paper proposes a non-Newtonian fluid viscoelasticity measurement method based on the piezoelectric effect. We use the piezoelectric bimorphs with the diameter of 21 mm and the total thickness of 0.38 mm and DSM coupling probes with the length of 3 mm, 5 mm and 7 mm to design the piezoelectric bimorphs driver. The viscoelasticity of different non-Newtonian fluids is tested. The vibration amplitudes of the piezoelectric bimorphs and liquid surfaces range from 0.43 μm to 3.52 μm. Consequently, the feasibility of in vitro detection of thrombus is confirmed in principle and the above scheme is validated theoretically and experimentally, which provides the basis for the measurement of blood viscoelasticity, the in vitro detection of thrombus and the manufacture of blood coagulation instrument.

A finite crack with arbitrarily varied surface piezoelectricity

We study the contribution of arbitrarily varied surface piezoelectricity to the anti-plane deformation and in-plane electric fields of a hexagonal piezoelectric material containing a finite crack. The varied surface piezoelectricity is incorporated by using an extended version of the continuum-based surface/interface model of Gurtin and Murdoch. In our discussion, the surface properties, including the surface elastic stiffness, the surface piezoelectric modulus and the surface dielectric permittivity, are assumed to be varied arbitrarily along the crack surfaces. By using the Green’s function method, the original boundary value problem is reduced to a system of two coupled first-order Cauchy singular integro-differential equations. Through a diagonalization strategy, the coupled system is transformed into two independent singular integro-differential equations, each of which can be numerically solved by using the collocation method. Our results indicate that the variation of the surface electroelastic moduli exerts a significant influence on the crack opening displacement, the electric potential jump across the crack faces and on the strengths of the logarithmic singularity in stresses and electric displacements at the crack tips.

Forced vibration of piezoelectric nanowires based on nonlocal elasticity theory

In this paper, a numerical solution procedure is presented for the free and forced vibration of a piezoelectric nanowire under thermo-electro-mechanical loads based on the nonlocal elasticity theory within the framework of Timoshenko beam theory. The influences of surface piezoelectricity, surface elasticity and residual surface stress are taken into consideration. Using Hamilton’s principle, the nonlocal governing differential equations are derived. The governing equations and the related boundary conditions are discretized by using the differential quadrature method (DQM). The numerical results are obtained for both free and forced vibration of piezoelectric nanowires. The present results are validated by available results in the literature. The effects of the nonlocal parameter together with the other parameters such as residual surface stress, temperature change and external electric voltage on the size-dependent forced vibration of the piezoelectric nanowires are studied. It is shown that the nonlocal effect (small scale effect) plays a prominent role in the forced vibration of piezoelectric nanowires and this effect cannot be neglected for small external characteristic lengths. The resonant frequency increases with increasing the residual surface stress. In addition, as the surface elastic constant increases, the resonant frequency of PNWs increases, while the surface piezoelectric constant has a decreasing effect on the resonant frequency.

Interface energy on effective elastic constant of piezoelectric composites with spherically anisotropy nano-particles under external uniform strain

ABSTRACTThe surfaces/interfaces effect is vital in nanocomposites. The electro-elastic surface/interface theory is introduced to predict the size-dependent effective elastic constants of piezoelectric composites with spherically anisotropy nano-particles under external uniform strain, and the analytical solution is obtained. New boundary conditions governing the surface piezoelectricity are used to analyze the surface piezoelectricity effect. The average electro-elastic coupling field of the randomly distributed nano-particles with surface/interface effect is derived by using the effective field method. In the numerical examples, the interface effect under different material constituents is analyzed. It is found that the interface effect on the effective elastic constants is significantly related to the material properties of nano-particles. The elastic constants and piezoelectric constants show different effects on the effective elastic constants.

A mixing surface acoustic wave device for liquid sensing applications: Design, simulation, and analysis

This work presents the mixing wave generation of a novel surface acoustic wave (M-SAW) device for sensing in liquids. Two structures are investigated: One including two input and output interdigital transducer (IDT) layers and the other including two input and one output IDT layers. In both cases, a thin (1 μm) piezoelectric AlN layer is in between the two patterned IDT layers. These structures generate longitudinal and transverse acoustic waves with opposite phase which are separated by the film thickness. A 3-dimensional M-SAW device coupled to the finite element method is designed to study the mixing acoustic wave generation propagating through a delay line. The investigated configuration parameters include the number of finger pairs, the piezoelectric cut profile, the thickness of the piezoelectric substrate, and the operating frequency. The proposed structures are evaluated and compared with the conventional SAW structure with the single IDT layer patterned on the piezoelectric surface. The wave displacement along the propagation path is used to evaluate the amplitude field of the mixing longitudinal waves. The wave displacement along the AlN depth is used to investigate the effect of the bottom IDT layer on the transverse component generated by the top IDT layer. The corresponding frequency response, both in simulations and experiments, is an additive function, consisting of sinc(X) and uniform harmonics. The M-SAW devices are tested to assess their potential for liquid sensing, by dropping liquid medium in volumes between 0.05 and 0.13 μl on the propagation path. The interaction with the liquid medium provides information about the liquid, based on the phase attenuation change. The larger the droplet volume is, the longer the duration of the phase shift to reach stability is. The resolution that the output change of the sensor can measure is 0.03 μl.

A crack with surface effects in a piezoelectric material

We study the contribution of surface piezoelectricity to the anti-plane deformations of a hexagonal piezoelectric material weakened by a crack. The surface piezoelectricity is incorporated by using an extended version of the continuum-based surface/interface model of Gurtin and Murdoch. The original boundary value problem is finally reduced to a system of two coupled first-order Cauchy singular integro-differential equations by considering a distribution of line dislocations and electric-potential-dislocations on the crack. Through a diagonalization strategy, the coupled system can be transformed into two independent singular integro-differential equations, each of which contains only one single unknown function and can be numerically solved by the collocation method. Our solution demonstrates that the stresses, strains, electric displacements and electric displacements exhibit the logarithmic singularity at the crack tips. The obtained solution is further used to predict the size-dependent effective electroelastic properties of a piezoelectric solid containing multiple nanocracks with surface piezoelectricity within the framework of non-interaction approximation.

The coupling influence of UV illumination and strain on the surface potential distribution of a single ZnO micro/nano wire

Interface/surface properties play an important role in the development of most electronic devices. In particular, nanowires possess large surface areas that create new challenges for their optoelectronic applications. Here, we demonstrated that the piezoelectric field and UV laser illumination modulate the surface potential distribution of a bent ZnO wire by the Kelvin probe force microscopy technology. Experiments showed that the surface potential distribution was changed by strain. The difference of surface potential between the outer/inner sides of the ZnO wire increased with increasing strain. Under UV laser illumination, the difference of surface potential between the outer/inner sides of the ZnO wire increased with increasing strain and illumination time. The origin of the observed phenomenon was discussed in terms of the energy band diagram of the bent wire and adsorption/desorption theory. It is suggested that the change of surface potential can be attributed to the uneven distribution of the carrier density across the wire deduced by the piezoelectric effect and surface adsorption/desorption of oxygen ions. This study provides an important insight into the surface and piezoelectric effects on the surface potential and can help optimize the performance of electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Topology optimization of piezoelectric nanostructures

We present an extended finite element formulation for piezoelectric nanobeams and nanoplates that is coupled with topology optimization to study the energy harvesting potential of piezoelectric nanostructures. The finite element model for the nanoplates is based on the Kirchoff plate model, with a linear through the thickness distribution of electric potential. Based on the topology optimization, the largest enhancements in energy harvesting are found for closed circuit boundary conditions, though significant gains are also found for open circuit boundary conditions. Most interestingly, our results demonstrate the competition between surface elasticity, which reduces the energy conversion efficiency, and surface piezoelectricity, which enhances the energy conversion efficiency, in governing the energy harvesting potential of piezoelectric nanostructures.

Size-dependent pyroelectric properties of gallium nitride nanowires

The size scale effect on the pyroelectric properties is studied for gallium nitride (GaN) nanowires (NWs) based on molecular dynamics simulations and the theoretical analysis. Due to the significant influence of the surface thermoelasticity and piezoelectricity at the nanoscale, the pyroelectric coefficient of GaN NWs is found to depend on the cross-sectional size. This size-dependent pyroelectric coefficient of GaN NWs together with the size-dependent dielectric constant reported in our previous study is employed to study the pyroelectric potential of GaN NWs subjected to heating. The results show that the size scale effect is significant for thin NWs (cross-sectional size in nanometers) and may raise the pyroelectric potential of GaN NWs by over 10 times. Such a size scale effect on the pyroelectric properties of NWs originates from the influence of thermoelasticity, piezoelectricity, and dielectricity at the nanoscale and decreases with increasing cross-section of GaN NWs. It is expected that the present study may have strong implication in the field of energy harvesting at the nanoscale, as pyroelectricity offers a new avenue to the design of novel nanogenerators.

The Native Material Limit of Electron and Hole Mobilities in Semiconductor Nanowires.

Piezoelectric surface acoustic waves are employed to induce radio frequency spatiotemporal dynamics of photogenerated electrons and holes in the GaAs core of individual GaAs/AlGaAs core/shell semiconductor nanowires. Comparison of the time-dependent interband optical recombination to numerical simulations allow to determine the charge carrier transport mobilities of electrons, μe = 500–250+500 cm2/(V s), holes, μh = 50–30+50 cm2/(V s) and their ratio μe:μh = (20 ± 5):1. Our method probes carrier transport at low carrier density. Thus, the obtained values represent the native material limit of these nanowires, determined by their structural properties. We show that for near-pristine nanowires, individual twin defects do not significantly affect electrical transport, in strong contrast to polytypic nanowires. In the acoustoelectrically modulated emission, we observe unambiguous signatures of (i) hole localization within long wurtzite-rich segments and (ii) electrons in zinc blende regions being reflected at the interface to a wurtzite-rich region. The experimentally observed periodic emission bursts are faithfully reproduced by advanced numerical simulations which include static band edge discontinuities between a single wurtzite segment in an otherwise pure zinc blende nanowire. Otherwise using the same input parameters as for near-pristine zinc blende nanowires, we can deduce from our simulations a minimum conduction band offset of ΔEC ≈ 20 meV at the interface between the zinc blende part and the wurtzite-rich region. These results furthermore confirm that a single wurtzite segment with sufficiently large band offsets efficiently traps holes and blocks electron transport.