High Performance Near-Room-Temperature Pyroelectric Energy Harvesting Characteristics of Ferroelectric–Semiconductor Composites

Abstract

Environment-friendly lead-free pyroelectrics are indispensable for pyroelectric generators to extract energy from low-gradient waste heat to power portable electronic devices. The pyroelectric response near room temperature is essential for high performance energy harvesters, which is unfortunately limited to lead-free ferroelectrics. Herein, BaTiO3-based ferroelectric–ZnO semiconductor composites were reported to exhibit superior pyroelectric energy harvesting characteristics near room temperature. The role of ZnO on the improved ferroelectric characteristics is elucidated through impedance and Rayleigh analysis. Notably, more than 100% enhancement in pyroelectric coefficient (7250 μC/(m2 K)) is displayed by the composite at 45 °C, making it a suitable candidate for pyroelectric energy harvesting applications. The composite showed the figure of merit of pyroelectric energy harvesting F E = 3.032 kJ/(m3 K2), which is the highest value near room temperature among the reported results.

Vibrational Property-Driven NIR Transparency in X:ZnO (X = Mo, Al) Multilayer Transparent Electrodes for Self-Powered Flexible Optoelectronics

“…However, in both zero-bias and biased conditions, the overall I – t characteristic is due to the combination of both pyroelectric and photovoltaic effects. The obtained results of the photoresponse studies are supportive and comparable to the reported works. − Here, the pyroelectric effect arises due to the instantaneous temperature rise and the photovoltaic effect appears due to the photogenerated carriers under illumination . It is noteworthy that a detailed energy band diagram involving the active layer of the CuO–ZnO heterojunction of the device has been presented somewhere else .…”

Lead-free BaTiO3-based relaxor ferroelectric thin film rendering rapid discharge rate for pulsed power energy application

“…10,24 The observed value of the loss tangent confirms the good dielectric quality of the fabricated BBLT thin film. Note that the temperature of the dielectric maximum Tm of bulk BBLT is ∼45 ○ C. 25 The grown film displays uniform surface morphology, as evidenced by the SEM image displayed in Fig. 3(a).…”

The prospect of supercapacitors in integrated energy harvesting and storage systems

“…Temperature fluctuation is scarce; however, in exceptional conditions, it exists, such as variation in light intensity, electronics operation switching between different modes, etc [119]. The PYNGs have been utilized in thermal sensors [120], waste heat recovery [121], ferroelectric-based semiconductors [122], etc. The integration of PYNGs with the supercapacitor is yet to be explored.…”