Over the past two decades, quick development of wireless sensor networks has required nodes being self-powered. Pushed by this goal, in work, we demonstrated a ZnO nanowire-array-based piezoelectric nanogenerator (NG) prototype, which can convert mechanical energy into electricity. High-quality single crystalline nanowires, having an aspect ratio about 15, grown on gold-coated silicon substrate...

Power supply for medical implantable devices (i.e. pacemaker) always challenges not only the surgery but also the battery technology. Here, we report a strategy for energy harvesting from the heart motion by using ultra-flexible piezoelectric device based on lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics that has most excellent piezoelectricity in commercial materials, without any burden or damage to h...

Piezoelectric diaphragms are used as synthetic jets because of their size, rapid time response, and relatively low power consumption. Among the piezoelectric diaphragms used are unimorphs and Bimorphs. In this study, a bimorph diaphragm, a thin Unimorph pre-stressed device and a Radial Field Diaphragm (RFD) are compared. A bimorph consists of two bonded PZT discs, a thin Unimorph pre-stressed d...

A two-port silicon carbide single-clamped beam (cantilever) microelectromechanical system (MEMS) resonant device actuated piezoelectrically and sensed piezoelectrically has been designed, fabricated and tested. Lead zirconium titanate (PZT) has been used as active material to implement the piezoelectric actuator and sensor. Piezoelectric electrodes have been placed on the top of the single 3C-S...

We present a microfabricated grating whose period can be tuned in analog fashion to within a fraction of a nanometer. The tunable angular range is more than 400 microrad in the first diffracted order. The design concept consists of a diffractive grating defined onto a 400-nm membrane, with the membrane subsequently strained in the direction perpendicular to the grating grooves by thin-film piez...

This paper describes a lab-on-a-chip device with acoustic thermoagitation based on a piezoelectric β-PVDF polymer. The device is used for testing and monitoring biochemical parameters in biological fluids using optical absorption spectrophotometry. Experimental results regarding the influence of the electrical signal amplitude and frequency applied for the generation of acoustic thermoagitation...

Stress in piezoelectric material can be controlled by imposing the electrical field. Thanks to a feedback, this electrical field can be a function of some strain related measurement so as to confer to the piezoelectric device a closed loop macroscopic behaviour. In this paper we address the modelling of such system by extending the modal decomposition methods to account for the closed loop. To ...

Abstract — With the rapid expansion of portable consumer and industrial devices, there is a present need for small, wireless, and portable power sources. Aside of traditionally used batteries, energy harvesting is one of the options that seems particularly attractive and cost efficient. This paper presents a novel method of retrieving energy from an electromagnetic field surrounding a current-c...

We demonstrate an organic/inorganic hybrid energy-harvesting platform, based on nanostructured piezolelectric arrays embedded in an environmental-responsive polymer matrix, which can self-generate electrical power by scavenging energy from the environment. A proof of principle device is designed, fabricated, and tested using vertically aligned ZnO nanowires and heat as the local energy source. ...