Optimization of energy harvesting conversion using the hybridization of electrostrictive polymers and electrets

Energy harvesting is a means of clustering energy that is naturally present in the environment by recovering it and then converting it into electricity for use in low-power electronics. After a brief introduction to energy harvesting using electrostrictive polymers and electrets, the second part of this article is focused on modelling. This section is divided into two: one part dealing with the electrostatic separate modelling based on physical domains using the FEM approach, to demonstrate that the electric field of the electret is applied also to the electrostrictive polymer and a second part dealing with modelling of the mechanical to electrical transduction in a case with an electrostrictive polymer working in pseudo-piezoelectric mode. The theoretical approach was then validated through various experiments and it was found that the output power density on the resistive load could reach a value that was six times higher than the classical approach. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.