One-dimensional (1D) piezoelectric nanostructures are attractive candidates for energy generation because of their excellent piezoelectric properties attributed to their high aspect ratios and large surface areas. Vertically grown BaTiO3 nanotube (NT) arrays on conducting substrates are intensively studied because they can be easily synthesized with excellent uniformity and anisotropic orientation. In this study, we demonstrate the synthesis of 1D BaTiO3 NT arrays on a conductive Ti substrate by electrochemical anodization and sequential hydrothermal reactions. Subsequently, we explore the effect of hydrothermal reaction conditions on the piezoelectric energy conversion efficiency of the BaTiO3 NT arrays. Vertically aligned TiO2 NT arrays, which act as the initial template, are converted into BaTiO3 NT arrays using hydrothermal reaction with various concentrations of the Ba source and reaction times. To validate the electrical output performance of the BaTiO3 NT arrays, we measure the electricity generated from each NT array packaged with a conductive metal foil and epoxy under mechanical pushings. The generated output voltage signals from the BaTiO3 NT arrays increase with increasing concentration of the Ba source and reaction time. These results provide a new strategy for fabricating advanced 1D piezoelectric nanostructures by demonstrating the correlation between hydrothermal reaction conditions and piezoelectric output performance.

Piezoelectric ceramic specimens with the Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.65Ti0.35O3 (PMN-PT) composition are prepared by the solid state reaction method known as the “columbite precursor” method. Moreover, the effects of the Li2O-Bi2O3 additive on the microstructure, crystal structure, and piezoelectric properties of sintered PMN-PT ceramic samples are investigated. The addition of Li2O-Bi2O3 lowers the sintering temperature from 1,200oC to 950oC. Moreover, with the addition of >5 wt.% additive, the crystal structure changes from tetragonal to rhombohedral. Notably, the sample with 3 wt.% additive exhibits excellent piezoelectric properties (d33 = 596 pC/N and Kp = 57%) and a sintered density of 7.92 g/cm3 after sintering at 950oC. In addition, the sample exhibits a curie temperature of 138.6oC at 1 kHz. Finally, the compatibility of the sample with a Cu electrode is examined, because the energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy data indicate the absence of interdiffusion between Cu and the ceramic material.

This study investigates the effect of MnO2 and CuO as acceptor additives on the microstructure and piezoelectric properties of 0.96(K0.5Na0.5)0.95Li0.05Nb0.93Sb0.07O3-0.04BaZrO3, which has a rhombohedral-tetragonal phase boundary composition. MnO2 and CuO-added 0.96(K0.5Na0.5)0.95Li0.05Nb0.93Sb0.07O3-0.04BaZrO3 ceramics sintered at a relatively low temperature of 1020 oC show a pure perovskite phase with no secondary phase. As the addition of MnO2 and CuO increases, the sintered density and grain size of the resulting ceramics increases. Due to the difference in the amount of oxygen vacancies produced by B-site substitution, Cu ion doping is more effective for uniform grain growth than Mn ion doping. The formation of oxygen vacancies due to B-site substitution of Cu or Mn ions results in a hardening effect via ferroelectric domain pinning, leading to a reduction in the piezoelectric charge coefficient and improvement of the mechanical quality factor. For the same amount of additive, the addition of CuO is more advantageous for obtaining a high mechanical quality factor than the addition of MnO2.

Laminate composites composed of 0.95Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3-0.05Pb(Mn1/3Sb2/3)O3 piezoelectric ceramic and Fe-Si-B based magnetostrictive amorphous alloy are fabricated, and the effect of control of the areal dimensions and the thickness of the piezoelectric layer on the magnetoelectric(ME) properties of the laminate composites is studied. As the aspect ratio of the piezoelectric layer and the magnetostrictive layer increases, the maximum value of the ME voltage coefficient(αME) increases and the intensity of the DC magnetic field at which the maximum αME value appears decreases. Moreover, as the thickness of the piezoelectric layer decreases, αME tends to increase. The ME composites exhibit αME values higher than 1 Vcm−1Oe−1 even at the non-resonance frequency of 1 kHz. This study shows that, apart from the inherent characteristics of the piezoelectric composition, small thicknesses and high aspect ratios of the piezoelectric layer are important dimensional determinants for achieving high ME performance of the piezoelectric-magnetostrictive laminate composite.

As the demand of fossil fuel has been increased, meeting future will be faced with exhausted non-renewable energy generation. In addition, there is a lot of expectation that fossil fuel resources are expected to get depleted in the end of century. Piezoelectric energy harvesting technology has significant advantages over other renewable energy sources such as solar panel, wind and geothermal energy. By using the pressure of vehicles, the piezoelectric energy transforms to electric energy by deformation of paving materials. There are many studies about this theme, only a few researches have been conducted on-site. It means that piezoelectric harvester is not available for roadway. Therefore, it is necessary to make it better a research framework that is available technology of piezoelectric materials and paving materials. The piezoelectric generator is tested before piezoelectric harvester manufacture for roadway. Each piezoelectric generator produces 9.38[mW/cm²] and piezoelectric harvester is manufactured by the number of 85 the piezoelectric generator. This harvester size has 50*20*9cm3 which is considered for wheel path of vehicle. When the chosen vehicle (about 2 ton) pass this harvester, the amount of electric energy is 255[W/m²] under 2[mm] of deformation and 30[km/h] of velocity. In this situation, the gathered energy is multiplied the maximum of voltage and electric current then divide it for the area of harvester. The test result is the temperature difference between the inside and outside after the thermal insulation coating process. When the external surface temperature is increased to 180 degrees, the internal temperature is kept 80 degrees even after about 30 minutes, indicating that the internal materials are protected from heat. In spite of many advantages with piezoelectric harvesting system, it is very hard to fit between roadway and harvester because of pavement damage. Most of paving material has a strong thickness. In this study, instead of asphalt and concrete pavement, the paving material is compound of poly-urethane to protect rutting and damage. To analysis for behavior, test is conducted by 90,000 times of wheel load on the pavement. The red line on the graph is commonly used asphalt pavement and the green one is polyurethane pavement. As it seemed that polyurethane pavement shows that the depth from wheel load is over 5 times better performance compared with asphalt pavement. Construction design is first of all, cutting off asphalt which is established before, then set up the tenth of piezoelectric harvesters, twenty fourth of road markers is installed into the roadway. Before filling up to space with polyurethane materials, wire arrangement and connect to controller. Each harvester is connected with controller that makes a signal for voltage, temperature sensor, water leak sensor. In order to use electric energy by harvester, road markers are selected, which each harvester has three of road markers. A circuit for lighting the light emitting device using the output of the harvester installed in the rest area was designed and manufactured. Basically, a circuit is configured to light up the harvester output, and a commercial power supply can be used in case the output of the harvester is reduced due to the durability thereof, and a controller is manufactured for each harvester to connect the road markers. Key Words: Piezoelectric Harvester

The effects of an excess of Bi on the piezoelectric and dielectric properties of 0.60Bi1+xFeO3-0.40BaTiO3 (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07) were investigated. The ceramics were processed through a conventional solid state reaction method and then quenched after sintering at different temperatures in the range of 980~1070 oC. A single perovskite structure without any secondary phase was confirmed for all compositions and temperatures. It was found that excess Bi reduced the sintering temperatures, acted as a sintering aid and enhanced the properties in combination with quenching. Curie temperature (TC) was found to slightly increase due to the presence of excess Bi; electrical properties were also improved by quenching. At x = 0.03 and 1030 oC, remnant polarization (2Pr) was as high as 45.4 μC/cm2 and strain at 40 kV/cm was up to 0.176 %.

Electricity generation through fossil fuels has caused environmental pollution. To solve this problem, research on new renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal heat, etc.) to replace fossil fuels is in progress. These devices are able to consistently generate power. However, they have many drawbacks, such as high installation costs and limitations in possible set-up environments. Thus, piezoelectric harvesting technology, which is able to overcome the limitations of existing energy technologies, is actively being studied. Piezoelectric harvesting technology uses the piezoelectric effect which occurs in crystals that generate voltage when stress is applied. Therefore, it has advantages such as a wider installation base and lower technological cost. In this study, a piezoelectric energy harvesting device based on constant wave motion was investigated. This device can regenerate electricity in a constant turbulent flow in the middle of the sea. The components of the device are circuitry, a steel bar, an bimorph piezoelectric element and buoyancy elements. In addition, a multiphysical analysis coupled with the structure and piezoelectric elements was conducted to estimate the performance of the device. With this piezoelectric energy harvesting device, the displacement and electric power were analyzed.

As a candidate for lead-free piezoelectric materials, dense (NKN-5LT) ceramics were developed by conventional sintering process. Sintering temperature was lowered by adding as a sintering aid. The electrical properties of NKN-5LT ceramics were investigated as a function of concentration. At the addition of 1 mol% , electromechanical coupling factor and piezoelectric coefficient of NKN-5LT ceramics were found to reach the highest values of 0.37 and 250 pC/N, respectively.

0.9Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.1PbTiO3계 완화형 강유전체에서 MnO2 첨가가 압전물성에 미치는 영향을 강유전성이 우세한 온도영역인 -40~30˚C의 온도범위에 걸쳐 조사하였다. MnO2 첨가에 의한 효과를 유전특성, 압전특성, 전계유기 변형특성 등의 영역에서 고찰하였다 MnO2 첨가량이 증가할수록 유전성 및 압전성은 hard piezoelectric의 경향을 나타내었다. 이러한 실험적 고찰로부터 첨가된 Mn은 강유전 도메인 분역을 고정하는 역할을 하는 것으로 제안되었다.