title: Lead-free 0.5Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3-0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 nanowires for energy harvesting.
abstract: Lead-free piezoelectric nanowires (NWs) show strong potential in sensing and energy harvesting applications due to their flexibility and ability to convert mechanical energy to electric energy. Currently, most lead-free piezoelectric NWs are produced through low yield synthesis methods and result in low electromechanical coupling, which limit their efficiency as energy harvesters. In order to alleviate these issues, a scalable method is developed to synthesize perovskite type 0.5Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3-0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3 (BZT-BCT) NWs with high piezoelectric coupling coefficient. The piezoelectric coupling coefficient of the BZT-BCT NWs is measured by a refined piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) testing method and shows the highest reported coupling coefficient for lead-free piezoelectric nanowires of 90 ± 5 pm V(-1). Flexible nanocomposites utilizing dispersed BZT-BCT NWs are fabricated to demonstrate an energy harvesting application with an open circuit voltage of up to 6.25 V and a power density of up to 2.25 μW cm(-3). The high electromechanical coupling coefficient and high power density demonstrated with these lead-free NWs produced via a scalable synthesis method shows the potential for high performance NW-based devices.
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
authors: Zhi
authors: Z
authors: Zhou
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
authors: Christopher C
authors: CC
authors: Bowland
authors: Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. hsodano@umich.edu.
authors: Mohammad H
authors: MH
authors: Malakooti
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
authors: Haixiong
authors: H
authors: Tang
authors: Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. hsodano@umich.edu and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
authors: Henry A
authors: HA
authors: Sodano