piezoelectricity materials & applications today and in future

Ceren Burcak DAG Electronics & Communication Eng. + Physics Majors 040100531

Content
Mechanism of Piezoelectricity Types of Piezoelectric Materials
Processes of producing an artificial piezo material

Piezo Applications
Piezoelectricity as a renewable energy source Piezo Researches & Piezo Industry all around the world and Turkey

Piezo & its Challenges in Future

Piezotronics, Piezoelectricity in Medicine,

A Detailed Reference Table

Mechanism of Piezoelectricity
In 1880, Jacques and Pierre Curie discovered the principle on quartz crystalline minerals. Greek word piezein, meaning to press or squeeze, so it means pressure electricity.
Converse Effect was deduced from fundamental thermodynamic principles [by Lipmann]

in atomic sizes?

Blue atoms are Pb (lead). Green atoms are O (oxygen). Orange atoms are either Ti or Zr.

Linear and reversible, Magnitude of polarization is dependent on the magnitude of stress and the sign shows you if the stress is tensile or compressive.

 In 1917 Paul Langevin and his coworkers developed an ultrasonic submarine detector, which consisted of a transducer made of thin quartz crystals carefully glued between two steel plates [1] With this success, sonar, ultrasonic transducers, microphones and accelerometers are developed at first time. In 1950, PZT is discovered. In 1980, an adequate phenomenology of piezoelectricity in PZT system is formulated.

Types of Piezoelectric Materials

Natural Piezo Materials Lab-made Piezo Materials

Formed in Nature
Quartz
Rochelle salt Turmalin

Crystals Galyum orthofosfate (GaPO4), quartz derivative crystal Langasite (La3Ga5SiO14), quartz derivative crystal

Ceramics
Barium titanate (BaTiO3) Lead zirkonate titanate (PbTiO3) potasium niobate (KNbO3) Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) Lithium tantalate (LiTaO3) sodium tungstate (Na2WO3)

Polymers PVDF (Polyvinylide ne fluoride)

 Traditional single crystal materials do not show a powerful piezoelectric effect & have low mechanical strength. No endurance for extreme conditions: limited T range.

 Piezoelectric ceramics exhibit large and stabilized piezo effect (high electromechanical coupling) Mechanically strong, hard Chemically inert and immune to humidity

 Non-reactive, resistence to acids, bases and high heat Best in the fluoropolymer family about electromechanical constant, but low with respect to piezo ceramics Elastic, low Young Modulus [7]

Process of Piezo Material Production

Raw Materials Mixing

Calcinination & Milling

Granulating with blinder

Shaping Electroding Machining Sintering

Poling

Characterization

 Electromechanical properties are highly influenced by processing conditions.

Poling Process: an external electric field can orient the ferroelectric domains in the grains. Before poling, it does not show piezoelectric property because of the random grain orientation. After poling, it has a spontaneous polarization in the direction of the poling field. * Temperature and electric field components can vary from material to material.

Piezo Applications
Sensor systems
Accelerometers, pressure/force sensors

Generator systems: generation of high voltages/frequency

Energy Harvesting Systems

Actuator systems
Active vibration reduction, nano-positioning etc.

Transducer systems
Sonar systems: production and detection of sound Distance-meters Transformers

basis of a number of scientific instrumental techniques with atomic resolution Scanning probe microscopy Ignition source of cigarette lighters Push-start propane barbecues

Nano-positioning: an actuator app.

Actuator Applications
Piezoelectic strains induced by an electric field are used in actuator applications. As high voltages correspond to only tiny changes in the width of the piezoelectric ceramics, this width can be changed with a perfect precision. In optics, astronomy, fluid control and precision machinery

Piezo Sensors
is a device that uses the piezoelectric effect to measure pressure, acceleration, strain or force by converting them to an electrical signal. - have extremely high resonant frequency - have linearity over a wide amplitude range - Rigid, hard, not deformed easily - High precision, exact measurement - Cant be used for static measurements but can be used for quasi-static measurements

 On the other hand, high temperatures decrease its internal resistance. Detection of pressure variations in the form of sound => piezoelectric microphones & piezo pickups for electric guitars.

Piezoelectricity as a renewable energy source

Piezo Applications & Production Companies

Piezo Production Companies: AmericanPiezo Company, Piezo Company (mostly ceramics), Smart Materials (composites included), PiezoTech (piezo polymers) etc.
Make custom piezos as well as standart piezos Different shapes, varied properties Counselling

Piezo Application Companies: Innowatech (piezo roads), Barantech (piezo keyboards, touchpads), Arveni (piezo buttons) etc.
produce their own piezo material and implement them into specialized areas Selling the technology

in Turkey?
There is no piezo industry and application companies in Turkey. Only distributor companies which sell everything, indeed.

That means Turkish engineers who desire to develop high tech smart technology should get them from out of the country with considerably expensive prices.

what about Piezo research in Turkey?

One research group in GYTE under Prof. Sedat Alkoy produces and tests piezo materials in their labs with their equipment. Some research assistants make piezo materials in Chemistry & Metallurgical Faculty of ITU, but cant test, since they do not have equipment for characterization. There are Turkish piezo researches in different countries. The thesises of some graduate students around Turkey.

PERSPECTIVE: How to choose a piezo material?

After deciding on your application, you should clearly state what you want from your smart material to do? Find the most suitable material for your properties with reading about materials structure and carefully looking at the constants of materials. Consider the mechanical constraints.

LETs EXAMINE THE WHOLE PROCESS FROM APC DIRECTORIES

PERSPECTIVE: Buying a Custom Piezo

Your application may force you to design a new kind of material. You do not need to buy a standard piezo even though it is the cheapest way. You should design your material in any kind of 3D drawing program such as AutoCAD. The company will produce the exact sizes that you like. MOST EFFICIENT WAY: MAKE, TEST & USE YOUR OWN PIEZO IN YOUR OWN COUNTRY!

PERSPECTIVE: What knowledge do you need

for a piezo project? the mechanism of the piezoelectric effect energy conversion efficiency the proper selection of suitable materials Circuitry knowledge: the smoothing of the power output via AC-DC conversion and other electronics systems

PERSPECTIVE: How to use Piezo material?

- You should not touch a piezo material with a bare hand, since it is possible to damage the electrode layer. - You should watch the temperature carefully while working with them. Passing the critical temperature destroys the piezoelectric property.

Piezo & its Challenges in Future

Concern regarding the toxicity in leadcontaining devices [regulations]. Lead-free piezoelectric ceramics are searched widely. Piezoelectric composites Development of more resilient piezo ceramic materials used for operation under severe external conditions (T, P, chemical).

Nano Piezo Science

fabricating a flexible, wearable or implantable energy harvesting system with realistic power outputs, based on highly efficient piezoelectric nanoassemblies.

 Piezoelectric fiber composites Piezoelectric polymer based generators with enhanced piezoelectric coefficients Nanowire generators based on integrated arrays of wires on a flexible platform Piezoelectric ribbons printed from thin films onto flexible and stretchable substrates

Piezotronics
ZnO nanowires are used in producing piezo diode, transistor, power-generator, supercapacitor, logic nanodevices, sensors etc.
Reference to [12-17]

Example of a Nano Sound Generator:

Piezo in Medicine
PVDF is light, flexible and biocompatible, rendering it a good candidate for wearable or implantable uses.
implanted PVDF films in a dogs rib cage to harness energy from respiration, 1984

 Converting bio-mechanical energy into electricity

Aim in the area: to make the pacemakers needless of a battery.

Most intriguing is the possibility of utilizing work produced by the human body via everyday activities, such as breathing or walking. For example, the heel strike during walking is a particularly rich source of energy with 67 W of power available from a brisk walker. 2 Harvesting even 1-5% of that power would be sufficient to run many bodyworn devices such as mobile phones. Similarly, lung motion by breathing can generate up to 1W of power. [8]

Piezo as a Science-Fiction
Making use of every movement in a human body, not just his breathing, walking but also blood movement, teeth, muscles etc. => Transforming human into a electricity generator in the future

A Detailed Reference Table

[1] Piezoelectric Ceramic Materials, Zhu, Processing, Properties, Characterization and Applications [2] Piezoelectric Materials, Ed. Nelson [3] Piezoelectric Sensors, Springer [4] Piezoceramic Sensors, Springer [5] Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting, Erturk, Inman [6] Nanotechnology-enabled flexible and biocompatible energy harvesting, McAlpine, Qi, Royal Society of Chemistry [7] Piezoelectricity of PVDF /PUE, PVDF/PMMA and PVDF/PMMA, +BaTiO3 Laminates, Karol Mazur [8] Piezoelectric Ribbons Printed onto Rubber for Flexible Energy Conversion, McAlpine et al. [9] Converting Biomechanical Energy into Electricity by a Muscle-Movement-Driven Nanogenerator, Wang et al. [10] Self-powered nanowire devices, Wang et al. [11] Microfibrenanowire hybrid structure for energy scavenging, Wang et al. [12] Sound-Driven Piezoelectric Nanowire-Based Nanogenerators, Cha et al. [13] Strain-Gated Piezotronic Logic Nanodevices, Wang et al. [14] Piezoelectric Field Effect Transistor and Nanoforce Sensor Based on a Single ZnO Nanowire, Wang et al. [15] Piezoelectric and Semiconducting Coupled Power Generating Process of a Single ZnO Belt., Wang et al. [16] Piezoelectric Nanogenerators Based on Zinc Oxide Nanowire Arrays, Wang et al. [17] Fiber Supercapacitors Made of Nanowire-Fiber Hybrid Structures for Wearable/Flexible Energy Storage, Wang et al. [18] Energy harvesting from a backpack instrumented with piezoelectric shoulder Straps, Granstrom et al.