Energy Harvesting using a Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) Thin Film on a Polymer Substrate

Thibault Dufay (1) , Benoit Guiffard (1) , Raynald Seveno (1) , Jean-Christophe Thomas (2)

1 IETR - Institut d'Électronique et des Technologies du numéRique
2 GeM - Institut de Recherche en Génie Civil et Mécanique

A composite structure with an highly flexible polymer substrate and a thin film of lead zirconate titanate, Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT), is realized using an all‐chemical process. The fabrication of the structure comprises three steps: first, PZT is deposited on an aluminum thin foil, then the PZT thin film is bonded to a polymer, and, finally, aluminum foil is removed by selective chemical etching. Structural characterization techniques are used to ensure the quality of the PZT/polymer composite structure. Electrical measurements are also performed to confirm the ferroelectric characteristics of the composite. Finally, energy harvesting measurements are realized with interdigitated electrodes structure. A maximal energy density of 20 μJ cm−2 is obtained with manual mechanical excitation and an output voltage up to 35 V under free oscillations conditions in bending mode. This demonstrates that the recently developed PZT/polymer thin films are very promising for low‐frequency vibrating energy‐harvesting applications.

Mots clés: interdigitated electrodes; PZT thin films; polymers; chemical transfer; energy conversion

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Thibault Dufay, Benoit Guiffard, Raynald Seveno, Jean-Christophe Thomas. Energy Harvesting using a Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) Thin Film on a Polymer Substrate. Energy Technology, 2018, 6 (5), pp.917-921. ⟨10.1002/ente.201700732⟩. ⟨hal-01757007⟩