Surface effects on the wrinkling of piezoelectric films on compliant substrates

The wrinkling of piezoelectric films on compliant substrates suggests new applications that require integration with curvilinear surface of human body for energy harvesting or health monitoring. In this paper, surface effects including surface elasticity, surface piezoelectricity, and residual surface stress on the wrinkling of piezoelectric films are studied. The wavelength, critical wrinkling voltage, and amplitude are obtained analytically. It is shown that surface effects play a significant role on the wrinkling of piezoelectric films when the thickness is on nanoscale. These results are very helpful for designing and controlling of the wrinkling profile in the new piezoelectric applications. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3664750]