Combination of electrostrictive polymers composites and electrets for energy harvesting capability

More recently, the development of electrostrictive polymers has generated novel opportunities for high-strain actuators. At present, the investigation of using electrostrictive polymers for energy harvesting is beginning to show potential for this application. Basically, the relative energy gain depends on the current induced by the mechanical strain and frequency. The aim of the present experimental work is to study the composites on the basis of terpolymer P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) filled with low concentrations of copper (Cu) powders. The scanning electron microscopy was performed essentially to verify the dispersion of the fillers within the polymeric matrix. The obtained results showed a relatively homogeneous dispersion for the microsized fillers and the existence of agglomerates for their nanosized counterparts. On the other hand, our experimental data show that the harvested power as well as the current is significantly important for nano-Cu fillers with respect to micro-Cu fillers by a factor of 45.9% in the case of the hybridization of electrostrictive polymers and electrets. Copyright (C) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.