Barium titanate film interfaces for hybrid composite energy harvesters

Christopher C. Bowland, Mohammad H. Malakooti, Henry A. Sodano

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Energy harvesting utilizing piezoelectric materials has become an attractive approach for converting mechanical energy into electrical power for low-power electronics. Structural composites are ideally suited for energy scavenging due to the large amount of mechanical energy they are subjected to. Here, a multifunctional composite with embedded sensing and energy harvesting is developed by integrating an active interface into carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites. By modifying the composite matrix, both rigid and flexible multifunctional composites are fabricated. Through electromechanical testing of a cantilever beam of the rigid composite, it reveals a power density of 217 pW/cc from only 1 g root-mean-square acceleration when excited at its resonant frequency of 47 Hz. Electromechanical sensor testing of the flexible multifunctional composite reveals an average voltage generation of 23.5 mV/g at its resonant frequency of 96 Hz. This research introduces a route for integrating nonstructural functionality into structural fiber composites by utilizing BaTiO3 coated woven carbon fiber fabrics with power scavenging and passive sensing capabilities.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4057-4065
Number of pages9
JournalACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume9
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1 2017

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge finanical support from National Science Foundation (Award No. CMMI-1333818), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Contract No. FA9550-16-1-0087 and Contract No. FA9550-12-1-0132), and Air Force Research Laboratory (Award No. FA8651-08-D-0108) for this research.

Keywords

  • Barium titanate
  • Carbon fibers
  • Embedded sensing
  • Energy harvesting
  • Multifunctional composite

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