3D-printed flexible, Ag-coated PNN-PZT ceramic-polymer grid-composite for electromechanical energy conversion

Piezoelectric ceramic materials such as Pb(Zr,Ti)O-3 (PZT) based ceramics have excellent electromechanical energy conversion ability, however, their rigid and undeformed characters are not suitable for flexible electronics application. Here, we report the design of flexible (0-3) connection ceramic-polymer composite made of poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomeric matrix doped with Ag-coated PNN-PZT (0.55Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O-3-0.135PbZrO(3)-0.315PbTiO(3)) ceramic heterojunction particles, and the 3D printing method for fabricating complex three-dimensional grid architectures. It was found that the 3D-printing, non-stereolithographic grid-composite exhibits a greater flexible character after doping ceramic particles and also excellent electromechanical coupling with a piezoelectric voltage coefficient g(33) as high as 400 x 10(-3) m V N-1, which is one order of magnitude higher than that of PZT based ceramics. Under drop hammer (similar to 20 N) impact, it can instantly drive over 20 commercial red-LEDs lighting directly without using a charge storage capacitor. This work shows that 3D-printed flexible ceramic-polymer composite has potential to replace brittle piezoceramics for electromechanical energy conversion and touching force sensor applications, such as soft robotics, artificial muscles and biology signal identification.