Construction of piezoelectric and flexoelectric models of composites by asymptotic homogenization and application to laminates

The effective piezoelectric and flexoelectric properties of heterogeneous solid bodies with constituents obeying a piezoelectric behavior are evaluated in full generality, based on the asymptotic expansion method. The successive situations of materials obeying a piezoelectric and flexoelectric behavior at the macroscale is envisaged in the present work. Closed-form expressions for the effective flexoelectric properties are obtained for stratified materials. A general theory for laminated piezoelectric plates is formulated on the basis of the formulated asymptotic models, and the response of the homogeneous substitution plate is evaluated for a loading consisting of a pure bending moment, triggering electric fields and strain and electric fields gradients within the plate thickness. The local mechanical and electric fields at the microscopic level within the initial heterogeneous stratified domain are evaluated by solving unit cell boundary value problems for the localization operators. An effective flexoelectric plate model for a stratified composite is constructed, showing the generation of the gradient of an electric field under application of a pure bending moment.

Enhanced mechanical energy conversion with selectively decayed wood

Producing electricity from renewable sources and reducing its consumption by buildings are necessary to meet energy and climate change challenges. Wood is an excellent “green” building material and, owing to its piezoelectric behavior, could enable direct conversion of mechanical energy into electricity. Although this phenomenon has been discovered decades ago, its exploitation as an energy source has been impaired by the ultralow piezoelectric output of native wood. Here, we demonstrate that, by enhancing the elastic compressibility of balsa wood through a facile, green, and sustainable fungal decay pretreatment, the piezoelectric output is increased over 55 times. A single cube (15 mm by 15 mm by 13.2 mm) of decayed wood is able to produce a maximum voltage of 0.87 V and a current of 13.3 nA under 45-kPa stress. This study is a fundamental step to develop next-generation self-powered green building materials for future energy supply and mitigation of climate change.

Properties of Na 0.5Bi0.5TiO3 and Na0.5Bi0.5 TiO3-based single crystals

Most studies of ferroelectric materials were focused on polycrystalline ceramics. However, it is difficult to improve their properties significantly (particularly piezoelectric one) due to grain/grain boundaries, compositional homogeneity, isotropic characteristics, and structural defects. It is commonly accepted that single crystals often have better piezoelectric behavior and less structural defects than ceramics. In this paper, we provide the processing technology and properties of lead-free Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 and Na0.5Bi0.5TiO 3-based single crystals. #FERROELECTRICS #NBT_SINGLE_CRYSTALS #FLUX_METHOD #CZOCHRALSKI_METHOD #DIELECTRIC_PROPERTIES

Synthesis and Piezoelectric Characterization of UV-Curable Nanocellulose/ZnO/AlN Polymeric Flexible Films for Green Energy Generation Applications

In this work, the fabrication of composites consisting of piezoelectric ZnO ceramic nanostructures and nanocellulose fillers in a UV-cured acrylic matrix has been exploited for the design of new functional coatings for green energy generation. The piezoelectric behavior was investigated at different accelerations applied to cantilever beams. The piezoelectric signal generated by the different ZnO nanostructures was improved by aluminum nitride film integration on the beam and proof mass insertion at the tip.

Characterization of Pure Face-Shear Strain in Piezoelectric α-Tellurium Dioxide (α-TeO2)

Paratellurite, also known as α-tellurium dioxide, is a ceramic that is primarily employed for its interesting optical properties. However, this material’s crystal structure belongs to the 422 symmetry class that allows a unique piezoelectric behavior to manifest itself: deformation in pure face-shear. This means that crystal symmetry necessitates the piezoelectric tensor to have only a single non-zero coefficient, d123 = d14: such unique behavior has the potential to enable novel gyroscopic sensors and high-precision torsional microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) actuators, as pure face-shear can be used to induce pure torsion. Although α-TeO2 is one of the few known materials belonging to this symmetry class, considerable uncertainty in its single piezoelectric coefficient exists, with the few reported literature values ranging from 6.13 to 14.58 pC/N; this large uncertainty results from the difficulty in using conventional piezoelectric characterization techniques on paratellurite, limiting measurements to indirect methods. The novel applications that would be enabled by the adoption of this extraordinary material are frustrated by this lack of confidence in the literature. We therefore leverage, for the first time, a first-principles analytical physical model with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to determine, directly, the lone piezoelectric coefficient d123 = d14 = 7.92 pC/N.