• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.681-692
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• 2020

Conventional Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters (CPEH) have been extensively studied for maximizing their electrical output through material selection, geometric and structural optimization, and adoption of efficient interface circuits. In this paper, the performance of Stepped Piezoelectric Energy Harvester (SPEH) under harmonic base excitation is studied analytically, numerically and experimentally. The motivation is to compare the energy harvesting performance of CPEH and SPEHs with the same characteristics (resonant frequency). The results of this study challenge the notion of achieving higher voltage and power output through incorporation of geometric discontinuities such as step sections in the harvester beams. A CPEH consists of substrate material with a patch of piezoelectric material bonded over it and a tip mass at the free end to tune the resonant frequency. A SPEH is designed by introducing a step section near the root of substrate beam to induce higher dynamic strain for maximizing the electrical output. The incorporation of step section reduces the stiffness and consequently, a lower tip mass is used with SPEH to match the resonant frequency to that of CPEH. Moreover, the electromechanical coupling coefficient, forcing function and damping are significantly influenced because of the inclusion of step section, which consequently affects harvester's output. Three different configurations of SPEHs characterized by the same resonant frequency as that of CPEH are designed and analyzed using linear electromechanical model and their performances are compared. The variation of strain on the harvester beams is obtained using finite element analysis. The prototypes of CPEH and SPEHs are fabricated and experimentally tested. It is shown that the power output from SPEHs is lower than the CPEH. When the prototypes with resonant frequencies in the range of 56-56.5 Hz are tested at 1 m/s2, three SPEHs generate power output of 482 μW, 424 μW and 228 μW when compared with 674 μW from CPEH. It is concluded that the advantage of increasing dynamic strain using step section is negated by increase in damping and decrease in forcing function. However, SPEHs show slightly better performance in terms of specific power and thus making them suitable for practical scenarios where the ratio of power to system mass is critical.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.407-411
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• 2022

Bulk-sized PbTiO₃ (PT), which is widely known as a high-performance ferroelectric oxide but cannot be fabricated into a monolithic ceramic due to its high c/a ratio, was successfully prepared with a high tetragonality by partially substituting Ni ions for Pb ions using a solid-state reaction method. We found that Ni-doped PT was well-fabricated as a bulk monolith with a significant c/a ratio of ~1.06. X-ray diffraction on as-sintered and crushed samples revealed that NiTiO₃ secondary phase was present at the doping level of more than 2 at.%. Scanning electron microscopic study showed that NiTiO₃ secondary phase grew on the surface of PT specimens regardless of the doping level possibly due to the evaporation of Pb during sintering. We demonstrated that an unconventional introduction of Ni ions into A-site plays a key role on the fabrication of bulk PT, though how Ni ion functions should be studied further. We expect that this study contributes to a further development of displacive ferroelectric oxides with a high c/a ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.516-521
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• 2022

We investigated the microstructure, crystal structure, dielectric, and elecromechanical strain properties of lead-free BaTiO₃ (BT)-modified (Bi_1/2Na_1/2)TiO₃-SrTiO₃ (BNT-ST) piezoelectric ceramics. Samples were prepared by a conventional ceramic processing route. Temperature dependent dielectric properties confirmed that a phase transition from a nonergodic relaxor to an ergodic relaxor was induced when the BT concentration reached 1.5 mol%, interestingly, where the average grain size reached a maximum value of 4.5 ㎛. At the same time, enhanced electromechanical strain (S_max/E_max = 600 pm/V) was obtained. It is suggested that the induced ferroelectric-relaxor phase transition by the BT modification is responsible for the enhancement of electromechanical strain in 1.5 mol% BT-modified BNT-ST ceramics.

• Composites Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.145-150
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• 2016

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as a representative polymer with the piezoelectric property has been studied since the 1960s. Crystalline structure of poly(vinylidene fluoride) polymer is composed of five different crystal structure of the polymer as a semi-crystalline. Among the various crystal structures, ${\beta}-type$ crystal exhibits a piezoelectricity because the permanent dipoles are aligned in one direction. Generally ${\beta}-form$ crystal structure can be obtained through the transformation of the ${\alpha}-form$ crystal structure by the stretching and it can increase the amount through the after treatment as poling process after stretching. ${\beta}-form$ crystal structure the PVDF fibers produced by wet spinning is formed through a diffusion mechanism of a polar solvent in the coagulation bath. However, it has a disadvantage that the diffusion path of the solvent remains as pores in the fiber because the fiber solidification occurs simultaneously with the diffusion of the polar solvent. These pores play a role in reducing effect of poling process owing to effect of disturbances acting on the polarization by the electric field. In this work, the drying method using the microwave was introduced to remove more effectively the residual solvent and the pore within PVDF fibers produced through wet-spinning process and piezoelectric PVDF fibers was produced by transformation of the remaining ${\alpha}$ form crystal structure into ${\beta}-crystal$ structure through the stretching process.