Room-temperature processed Ag/Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-Pb(Zr0.5Ti0.5)O3-based composites for printable piezoelectric energy harvesters

Piezoelectric energy harvesters based on polymer-matrix composites may be an ideal choice for wearable lowpower electronic devices with high flexibility and reliability. Herein, we propose an electromechanical energy harvester consisting of 0.4 Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.6Pb(Zr0.5Ti0.5)O-3 (PZN-PZT) and Ag nanoparticles dispersed in an ultraviolet (UV)-curable polymer matrix. The harvesters were fabricated by printing a viscous paste, followed by curing at room temperature under UV light. Despite the lack of piezoelectric contribution from the UV-cured polymer, the resultant energy harvesting performance was pronounced with similar to 8.15 V and similar to 862 nA for the optimized composition of 30 vol% PZN-PZT and 2 vol% Ag, corresponding to approximately 9.4 and 6.5-fold increases, respectively, relative to the values of the reference sample. The enhanced piezoelectric energy harvesting was assumed to originate from contributions of the PZN-PZT nanoparticles as the sole piezoelectric material and the Ag inclusions as a source of additional space-charge polarization.