title: Improvement of pyroelectric cells for thermal energy harvesting.
abstract: This study proposes trenching piezoelectric (PZT) material in a thicker PZT pyroelectric cell to improve the temperature variation rate to enhance the efficiency of thermal energy-harvesting conversion by pyroelectricity. A thicker pyroelectric cell is beneficial in generating electricity pyroelectrically, but it hinders rapid temperature variations. Therefore, the PZT sheet was fabricated to produce deeper trenches to cause lateral temperature gradients induced by the trenched electrode, enhancing the temperature variation rate under homogeneous heat irradiation. When the trenched electrode type with an electrode width of 200 μm and a cutting depth of 150 μm was used to fabricate a PZT pyroelectric cell with a 200 μm thick PZT sheet, the temperature variation rate was improved by about 55%. Therefore, the trenched electrode design did indeed enhance the temperature variation rate and the efficiency of pyroelectric energy converters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Design Engineering, National Formosa University, No. 64, Wunhua Rd., Huwei Township, Yunlin County 632, Taiwan. cchsiao@nfu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Chun-Ching
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hsiao
authors.forename: An-Shen
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Siao
authors.forename: Jing-Chih
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ciou
mesh_terms: D004560:Electricity; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D004566:Electrodes; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006358:Hot Temperature; D059205:Renewable Energy; D013997:Time Factors