Flexoelectricity as a universal mechanism for energy harvesting from crumpling of thin sheets

Wang, Binglei; Yang, Shengyou; Sharma, Pradeep

doi:10.1103/physrevb.100.035438

Cited by 42 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Simplifying Equations (32) and 33, we get the governing equations of direct and converse effects as,…”

Section: Governing Equationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the gradient of strain, is by having appropriate boundary and loading conditions. For this purpose, cantilever-shaped energy harvesters and sensors, due to the presence of nonuniform strain in bending, have been vastly investigated in the past [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] Variable mechanical characteristics can result in varying strain distribution within the domain. A few studies have suggested the use of special composite materials to achieve variation in mechanical properties and thereby a strain gradient [34][35][36][37][38][39].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Universal converse flexoelectricity in dielectric materials via varying electric field direction

Sharma

Kumar

Vaish

2021

International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials

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Flexoelectricity is a symmetry independent electromechanical coupling phenomenon that outperforms piezoelectricity at micro and nanoscales due to its size-dependent behavior arising from gradient terms in its constitutive relations. However, due to this gradient term flexoelectricity, to exhibit itself, requires specially designed geometry or material composition of the dielectric material. First of its kind, the present study put forward a novel strategy of achieving electric field gradient and thereby converse flexoelectricity, independent of geometry and material composition of the material. The spatial variation of the electric field is established inside the dielectric material, Ba 0.67 Sr 0.33 TiO 3 (BST), by manipulating electrical boundary conditions. Three unique patterns of electrode placement are suggested to achieve this spatial variation. This varying direction of electric field gives rise to electric field gradient, the prerequisite of converse flexoelectricity. A multi-physics coupling based theoretical framework is established to solve the flexoelectric actuation by employing isogeometric analysis (IGA). Electromechanically coupled equations of flexoelectricity are solved to obtain the electric field distribution and the resulting displacements thereby. The maximum displacements of 0.2 nm and 2.36 nm are obtained with patterns I and II, respectively, while pattern III can yield up to 85 nm of maximum displacement.

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“…Simplifying Equations (32) and 33, we get the governing equations of direct and converse effects as,…”

Section: Governing Equationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Universal converse flexoelectricity in dielectric materials via varying electric field direction

Sharma

Kumar

Vaish

2021

International Journal of Smart and Nano Materials

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“…introducing (38) in (39) in (42) and comparing the different terms of the resulting equation with (24), we obtain, after some calculations:…”

Section: Definition Of Effective Tensorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Earlier works focused on exploiting flexoelectricity to design piezoelectric-like materials without using piezoelectrics [37,38]. A related notion is also of how flexoelectricity could mimic piezoelectricity [39].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apparent Flexoelectricity Due to Heterogeneous Piezoelectricity

Yvonnet

Chen

Sharma

2020

Journal of Applied Mechanics

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Recent work has highlighted how the phenomenon of flexoelectricity can masquerade as piezoelectricity. This notion can not only be exploited to create artificial piezoelectric-like materials without using piezoelectric materials, but may also explain measurement artifacts in dielectrics. In this article, we show that the reverse is also possible and potentially advantageous in certain situations (such as energy harvesting). By constructing a computational homogenization approach predicated on the finite element method, we argue that composites made of piezoelectric phases can conspire to endow the material with a distinct overall flexoelectric-like response even though the native flexoelectricity of the constituent materials is negligible. Full finite element procedures for numerical evaluation of the different effective tensors, including the flexoelectric tensor, are provided. Numerical investigations are conducted, showing variation of the effective flexoelectric properties with respect to local geometry and properties of the composite in piezoelectric-piezoelectric and polymer-piezoelectric composites. We find that the flexoelectric response can be tuned to nearly {five times} higher than the constituents.

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“…Polymers show flexoelectric effect, and in recent years, the focus is on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) that shows the strongest effect and is applied in many applications like energy harvesting, 5–9 implantations, 10 structural components, 11 soft robots, 12 protecting coatings 13 for steel structural members, flexible pipelines 14 as multilayer structures for the transport of oil and gas in offshore oil and gas fields, nano‐generators, 15 and sensors 16 . Finally, PVDF flexoelectricity plays an important role in applications requiring soft membranes 17 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fracture experiments and flexoelectric response of PVDF

Giannakopoulos

Knisovitis

Georgousis

et al. 2020

Mat Design & Process Comms

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Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is tested using single edge notch tensile (SENT) specimens under mode I and plane stress conditions. The novel aspect of the testing is the use of electrodes attached close to the crack tip which measured an electric potential. The electric potential was analyzed with a flexoelectric model that related the electric potential with the mechanical dilatation due to the stresses close to the crack tip.

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Flexoelectricity as a universal mechanism for energy harvesting from crumpling of thin sheets

Cited by 42 publications

References 45 publications

Universal converse flexoelectricity in dielectric materials via varying electric field direction

Universal converse flexoelectricity in dielectric materials via varying electric field direction

Apparent Flexoelectricity Due to Heterogeneous Piezoelectricity

Fracture experiments and flexoelectric response of PVDF

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