Many forms of scanning probe microscopy require a piezoelectric actuator to vary the probe-sample distance. Examples include constant-force atomic force microscopy and constant-current scanning tunneling microscopy. In such modes, the topography of the sample is reconstructed from the voltage applied to the vertical piezoelectric actuator. However, piezoelectric actuators exhibit significant hy...

Piezoelectric elements are widely used for damping micro-vibrations in mechanical structures. Active damping can be realised robustly by means of collocated actuator-sensor-pairs, controlled so as to extract vibration energy. Excellent damping performance is possible as long as sufficient controllability is assured. Passive damping based on a single piezoelectric element can be realised by the ...

Synthesis by the hydrothermal method has various advantages, including low reaction temperature, three-dimensional substrate availability, and automatic polarization alignment during the process. In this review, powder synthesis, the fabrication of piezoelectric thin films, and their applications are introduced. A polycrystalline lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin film was applied to a micro ul...

We investigate the global bifurcations and multipulse chaotic dynamics of a simply supported laminated composite piezoelectric rectangular thin plate under combined parametric and transverse excitations. We analyze directly the nonautonomous governing equations of motion for the laminated composite piezoelectric rectangular thin plate. The results obtained here indicate that the multipulse chao...

We analyze coupled flexural vibration of two elastically and electrically connected piezoelectric beams near resonance for converting mechanical vibration energy to electrical energy. Each beam is a so-called piezoelectric bimorph with two layers of piezoelectrics. The 1D equations for bending of piezoelectric beams are used for a theoretical analysis. An exact analytical solution to the beam e...

Known and unknown behaviors of three nonlinear systems are described in this paper. The power harvesting project is mentioned where the power generation mat using piezoelectric elements was experimented and demonstrated in Tokyo station of Japan Railways east (JR-east) company in 2006 and 2008 respectively. The commuters and passengers generate electric power by passing the power generation mat...

Boundary element method (BEM) is a powerful computational tool for analysing piezoelectric problems. The BEM has been so well developed during the past 40 years that it has been considered as a very popular computational tool. This method consists of formulating the engineering problem in terms of an integral equations relating only boundary values and determining its solutions numerically. Thu...

Piezoelectric materials characterization is a challenging problem involving physical concepts, electrical and mechanical measurements and numerical optimization techniques. Piezoelectric ceramics such as Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) belong to the 6 mm symmetry class, which requires five elastic, three piezoelectric and two dielectric constants to fully represent the material properties. If los...

AbstractWith the application of wireless sensor networks become widespread, supply energy for these wireless sensors proves to be a significant issue. Moreover, for the ambient vibration lies everywhere, the vibration can supply energy for the wireless sensor via energy harvester. The piezoelectric energy harvester becomes the research focus for the simple structure and higher energy conversion...

Piezoelectric thin films offer a number of advantages in various applications, such as high energy density harvesters, a wide dynamic range, and high sensitivity sensors, as well as large displacement and low power consumption actuators. This review covers the available material forms and applications of piezoelectric thin films: lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-based thin films, lead-free piezoel...