Pyroelectric materials and devices for energy harvesting applications

Abstract

This review covers energy harvesting technologies associated with pyroelectric materials and systems. Such materials have the potential to generate electrical power from thermal fluctuations and is a less well explored form of thermal energy harvesting than thermoelectric systems. The pyroelectric effect and potential thermal and electric field cycles for energy harvesting are explored. Materials of interest are discussed and pyroelectric architectures and systems that can be employed to improve device performance, such as frequency and power level, are described. In addition to the solid materials employed, the appropriate pyroelectric harvesting circuits to condition and store the electrical power are discussed.

Tuning of dielectric, pyroelectric and ferroelectric properties of 0.715Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-0.065BaTiO3-0.22SrTiO3 ceramic by internal clamping

“…This phenomenon has been widely employed for a host of applications including infra-red detectors, thermal imaging, and energy harvesting. [51][52][53][54] Such applications in particular require pyroelectric materials with low dielectric constant and loss, low specific heat capacity, low thermal conductivity and high pyroelectric coefficient. [51][52][53][54] Since most of this can be achieved through internal clamping, hence, one of the focus of this work is to analyze the effect of glass addition on pyroelectricity.…”

“…A number of FOMs have been derived for pyroelectric materials based on application specific requirements such as thermal/infrared imaging. [51][52][53][54] The most common FOMs are based on consideration of thermal and electrical circuits employed or maximum current/voltage for a given input. In this direction, for maximizing the pyroelectric voltage for a given heat input, high voltage responsivity (F v ) FOM can be expressed as F v = p/C v εε 0 where C e or C v is volume specific heat (constant electric field) and ε 0 is permittivity of free space.…”

“…In this direction, for maximizing the pyroelectric voltage for a given heat input, high voltage responsivity (F v ) FOM can be expressed as F v = p/C v εε 0 where C e or C v is volume specific heat (constant electric field) and ε 0 is permittivity of free space. [51][52][53] Here, C v is expressed as C v = C p .ρ where C p is the specific heat capacity and ρ is the density. For infrared detection devices based on the current responsivity, the relevant FOM (F i ) is given by F i = p/C v .…”

“…For energy harvesting FOM (F e ) is proposed as F e = p 2 /ε. 51,52,54 This F e FOM has been widely used by a number of researchers for pyroelectric energy harvesting material selection and design problems. 51,52,54 However, for energy harvesting a new FOM (F * e ) has been recently proposed as F * e = p 2 /εC 2 v .…”

“…It can be further expressed in terms of F * e = F i × F v . 51,52,54 Table I shows various FOMs (F v F i , F d , F e and F * e ) for pure and glass added BNT-BT-ST ceramics. It is observed that the FOMs increase with increasing glass content.…”