Energy harvesting of PZT/PMMA composite flexible films

Polymer/lead zirconate titanate {[Pb(Zr_x, Ti_1-x)O₃], PZT, x = 0.40} flexible composite films are prepared by solvent evaporation technique. Carbon tape used as a top and bottom electrodes for fabricating flexible PZT composite films. The phase purity and functional groups of PZT and polymer humps are confirmed by XRD and FTIR respectively. XPS analysis showed that PMMA contains carbon (C) and oxygen (O). Carbon (C), oxygen (O), lead (Pb), zirconium (Zr) and titanium (Ti) are present in PZT/PMMA composite films. The chemical states of Pb, Zr and Ti ions are 2⁺, 4⁺ and 4⁺ respectively confirmed by XPS. The higher forefinger bending motion of the film is found to reveal greater output voltage (5.2 V) than the output voltage (1.6 V) for slight bending motion of the forefinger. Therefore, based on the results human mechanical forces induce compressive stress on PZTs ferroelectric based composite films and are excellent candidate for energy harvester.