Green Fabrication of Freestanding Piezoceramic Films for Energy Harvesting and Virus Detection

Abstract

Most electronics such as sensors, actuators and energy harvesters need piezoceramic films to interconvert mechanical and electrical energy. Transferring the ceramic films from their growth substrates for assembling electronic devices commonly requires chemical or physical etching, which comes at the sacrifice of the substrate materials, film cracks, and environmental contamination. Here, we introduce a van der Waals stripping method to fabricate large-area and freestanding piezoceramic thin films in a simple, green, and cost-effective manner. The introduction of the quasi van der Waals epitaxial platinum layer enables the capillary force of water to drive the separation process of the film and substrate interface. The fabricated lead-free film, $${\text{Ba}}_{{{0}{\text{.85}}}} {\text{Ca}}_{{{0}{\text{.15}}}} {\text{Zr}}_{{{0}{\text{.1}}}} {\text{Ti}}_{{{0}{\text{.9}}}} {\text{O}}_{{3}}$$ Ba 0 .85 Ca 0 .15 Zr 0 .1 Ti 0 .9 O 3 (BCZT), shows a high piezoelectric coefficient d33 = 209 ± 10 pm V−1 and outstanding flexibility of maximum strain 2%. The freestanding feature enables a wide application scenario, including micro energy harvesting, and covid-19 spike protein detection. We further conduct a life cycle analysis and quantify the low energy consumption and low pollution of the water-based stripping film method.

Enhanced Tunability Achieving at Low Permittivity and Electric Field in (Ba0.91Ca0.09)(SnxZr0.2−xTi0.8)O3-2 mol% CuO-1 mol% Li2CO3 Ceramics

“…With the rapid development of The Internet of Things, 5G networks and autonomous traffic, the frequency spectrum has been scarce; it requires the frequency, bandwidth and phase of front-end devices (such as antennas, filters and phase shifters) to be regulated [1][2][3][4]. It is a good strategy to fabricate front-end devices using varactors whose capacitor can be expediently controlled by external magnetic field, electric field or mechanical force [5][6][7][8]. The utilization of varactors not only reduces the volume and manufacturing cost of communication equipment, but also makes communication equipment have the ability of multi-band scanning and transmitting signals.…”

Stepped-Tube Backside Cavity Piezoelectric Ultrasound Transducer Based on Sc0.2AI0.8N Thin Films

“…Currently, various piezoelectric materials such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT), barium calcium zirconate titanate ceramics (BCZT), and aluminum nitride film (AIN) have been widely applied [ 8 , 10 , 11 ]. However, the preparation of PZT requires a high temperature environment (>480 °C) due to the lead content in the process, which is gradually being replaced in today’s environmentally conscious context.…”

“…However, the preparation of PZT requires a high temperature environment (>480 °C) due to the lead content in the process, which is gradually being replaced in today’s environmentally conscious context. BCZT is a lead-free piezoelectric material, but its preparation also requires higher temperatures [ 11 ]. Compared to PZT and BCZT, the lead-free piezoelectric material AIN can be deposited at lower temperatures (<300 °C), offering improved receiving sensitivity and temperature stability.…”