Lead-Free BCZT-PDMS Piezoelectric Energy Harvester

This article presents the synthesis and characterisation of lead-free BCZT (Ba₀.₈₅Ca₀.₁₅Ti₀.₉Zr₀.₁O₃) nanopowder produced by the solid-state reaction technique, employing between four to five cycles of grounding to enhance crystallinity. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) verified that grounding the materials five times yielded a highly crystalline BCZT with a cubic perovskite structure. The BCZT powder was filled into a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix at different weight percentages (1%, 3%, 5%, and 10%) to investigate the performance in terms of piezoelectric coefficient and generated voltage. The BCZT-PDMS composites displayed an amorphous form attributable to the polymer matrix. While preserving the functional piezoelectric characteristics of the ceramic filler, the result shows that the 10% wt sample exhibits a higher d33 measurement with 45 pC/N, which increased approximately 50% compared to 5% wt. Furthermore, the performance was assessed using d₃₃ measurements and voltage production during mechanical excitation, utilising a solenoid with a constant force of 2 N and a frequency of 10 Hz. The findings indicated that the piezoelectric generates voltage well with BCZT-PDMS composite with 10 wt%, yielding a maximum output voltage of 8 V. Finally, the capability of BCZT-PDMS to harvest energy has been presented in this paper.