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This monograph on ambient energy harvesting consists of ten chapters, organized as follows:
• Chapter 1 explains green energy technologies and their applications. The sources of ambient energies accessible with available commercial devices are discussed.
• Chapter 2 gives a brief overview of dielectrics, the nature of a unique class of smart materials (i.e., ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics, and pyroelectrics), and its classification on the basis of crystal classes. A list of important materials is given, as well as their applications. Piezoelectric/pyroelectric/ferroelectric phenomena are described in the context of their energy-harvesting applications.
• Chapter 3 involves the mathematical modeling of constitutive equations, mechanisms of piezoelectric energy conversion, and the operating principle of a piezoelectric energy-harvesting system. It also focuses on the dielectric, piezoelectric, mechanical, and pyroelectric properties of candidate piezoelectric and pyroelectric materials: from single crystals (such as PMN-PT) to ceramic PZT and polymers (such as PVDF). Recent important literature on piezoelectric energy harvesting is also reviewed.
• Chapter 4 discusses the parametric identification and measurement techniques for piezoelectric energy harvesters, including the efficiency and the physical properties of piezoelectric, ferroelectric, and pyroelectric materials.
• Chapter 5 demonstrates the principles of a piezoelectric cantilever beam for vibrational energy harvesting. Various configurations of cantilever-based energy harvesters are described, as well as the respective modeling used to predict their performance. Various important cantilever structures with multiple piezoelectric elements are reviewed.
• Chapter 6 describes various strategies and techniques that have been developed to enhance piezoelectric energy-harvesting efficiency, namely, the frequency tuning and bandwidth widening of harvesters.
• Chapter 7 briefly describes some of the important devices for piezoelectric power harvesting that have potential applications in the real world.
• Chapter 8 focuses on the fundamentals and principles of energy harvesting via the linear and nonlinear properties of pyroelectrics/ferroelectrics. An overview of various materials and techniques investigated for energy harvesting, including mathematical modeling, is also presented. A survey of recent work on ferroelectric/pyroelectric energy harvesting is reviewed and presented.
• Chapter 9 describes the methodology of the growth and fabrication of important piezoelectric and ferroelectric materials in various forms, such as bulk single crystals, polycrystalline ceramics, thin films, thick films, and composites. Based on the applicability and requirements of the materials, techniques such as a low-temperature solution and melt crystal growth, sputtering, laser ablation, chemical-vapor-deposition techniques, solution-deposition techniques (such as sol-gel, metalloorganic, and spin-coating pyrolysis), and screen printing are illustrated with diagrams and processes via flowcharts.
• Chapter 10 projects a future outlook for piezoelectric energy harvesting.
• The Appendix lists the MATLAB code for a few examples in Chapter 5.
For all technical contacts, suggestions, corrections, or exchanges of information, the reader is advised to contact the authors via email: ashobatra@gmail.com and Lovephy85@gmail.com.
Ashok K. Batra
A. A. Alomari
May 2017
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