IntroductionAs renewable energy sources are taking a wider share of worldwide energy production, [1] grids reliability and utilization efficiency are plummeting. [2,3] This is mainly due to intermittency and discontinuity of power sources, such as wind and solar, which determine uncertainties in energy production capability and in fulfilling the instantaneous energy demand. This aspect, in turn, sensibly increases the unpredictability of energy prices spikes and marginal and maintenance costs of traditional fossil fuel plants, which are demanded Since the breakthrough achieved in the research around material intercalating lithium, almost a decade has passed before the commercialization of the first lithium-ion battery (LIB). On the brink of an energy voracious future, convergence of scientific efforts over efficient and low-cost energy production and storage would be advantageous and beneficial. The research hovering around sodium-ion rechargeable batteries (SIBs), a more sustainable alternative to LIBs, has been observing a positive momentum for ten years now, and chemically stable and electrochemically performing anode and cathode materials represent important milestones on the path toward a commercial full-cell. Material science breakthroughs achieved in carbon and graphite based matrices, layered and open framework structures, and sodium storing alloys, disclose new full-cell set up opportunities going beyond traditional "rocking chair" configuration. In this contribution an in-depth analysis of chemical and physical principles lying beyond the energy storage provided by SIBs most recently investigated active materials is given. In the second half of the review, challenges, opportunities, and state-of-the art description of full-cell SIBs lab scale prototypes are discussed. The latter, indeed, stands for a technological validation of a low-cost alternative to lithium-ion batteries guaranteeing energy densities close to 150 Wh kg −1 . Sodium-Ion Batteriesdiscontinuously to provide for power unbalances between demand and supply. In general, resilience to these drawbacks would be higher providing an incremented flexibility from demand response resources, interregional energy transmission, and energy storage. Plenty of energy storage systems (ESS) are being utilized to curb renewable energy sources intermittency. Among them, worth to be listed are hydroelectric (pumped hydro), mechanical (flywheels and compressed air), and electrochemical (lead-acid, Na-S, Na-NiCl 2 , and Li-ion batteries). [4] Nevertheless not all the previously cited energy storage technologies are comparable one with another in terms of scalability, environmental impact, investment costs, maintenance, and moreover, responsivity to energy needs. Batteries energy storage, directly suppling electric energy without requiring any mechanical-to-electrical energy transducer, surely represents the most versatile appliance. In particular, intrinsic flexibility of modern Li-ion batteries coupled to renewable power plants, ensures the proper response not...

Lead-free piezoelectric 0.5(BaCa)TiO-0.5Ba(ZrTi)O (BCTZ) nanoparticles (NPs) composed of earth-abundant elements were adopted for use in a flexible composite-based piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) that can convert mechanical deformation into electrical energy. The solid-state synthesized BCTZ NPs and silver nanowires (Ag NWs) chosen to reduce the toxicity of the filler materials were blended with a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix to produce a piezoelectric nanocomposite (p-NC). The naturally flexible polymer-based p-NC layers were sandwiched between two conductive polyethylene terephthalate plastic substrates to achieve a flexible energy harvester. The BCTZ NP-based PEH effectively generated an output voltage peak of ∼15 V and a current signal of ∼0.8 μA without time-dependent degradation. This output was adequate to operate a liquid crystal display (LCD) and to turn on six blue light emitting diodes (LEDs).

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Flexible piezoelectric generators constructed using one-dimensional nanostructures are well known for their efficient energy harvesting. Herein, we have fabricated a flexible piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) consisting of a single 0.65Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 -0.35PbTiO 3 nanowire (PMN-PT NW) using a facile transferring approach onto a Au electrode-patterned plastic substrate. The well-developed device effectively harvested the maximum output signals (9 mV and 1.5 nA) originating from a single PMN-PT nanowire under mechanical bending/unbending motions. The designed PEH is also expected to be utilized as a versatile tool to evaluate the performance of a one-dimensional nanostructure.