Enhanced energy harvesting performance of PIN-PMN-PT single crystal unimorph using alternating current poling

In this work, the piezoelectric unimorph of a Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O-3 -Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-PbTiO3 (PIN-PMN-PT) single crystal by alternating current poling (ACP) was studied for vibration energy harvesting. The figure of merit of d(31) x g(31) of the 0.25PIN-0.43PMN-0.32PT single crystal was enhanced to be 29.3 x 10(-12) m(2)/N by ACP, which is 1.9 times and 8.9 times as much as that of the 0.25PIN-0.43PMN-0.32PT single crystal and the commercial PZT5H ceramic by direct current poling (DCP), respectively. The piezoelectric unimorph of the 0.25PIN-0.43PMN-0.32PT single crystal by ACP produced the open circuit voltage of 67 Vp and the maximum power of 0.74 mW under on-resonance condition, which were 1.5 times and 1.8 times as much as the 0.25PIN-0.43PMN-0.32PT single crystal unimorph by DCP. Moreover, these were almost 2.4 times more voltage and 5.7 times more power than the PZT5H ceramic unimorph. Even under the off resonance condition, the piezoelectric unimorph of the 0.25PIN-0.43PMN-0.32PT single crystal by DCP and ACP produced 4.4 times and 8.0 times maximum output power as much as the PZT5H ceramic unimorph. ACP is a potential way to further enhance the output voltage and power of the 0.25PIN-0.43PMN-0.32PT single crystal unimorph for energy harvesting.

Automated summary

In this study, the application of piezoelectric unimorph in vibration energy harvesting was explored using alternating current poling. The results showed that alternating current poling significantly enhanced the efficiency of the piezoelectric unimorph, outperforming direct current poling in both on-resonance and off-resonance conditions.