Optimization a structure of MEMS based PDMS ferroelectret for human body energy harvesting and sensing

A ferroelectret is typically a charge-storing cellular foam that demonstrates excellent piezoelectric properties making them potentially suitable for both sensing and energy harvesting applications. In this work we developed a numerical finite element analysis (FEA) model to describe ferroelectret materials and to further improve their piezoelectric properties. Using this FEA model, ferroelectret materials with rectangular and parallelogram void structure were designed and then fabricated by casting polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) in microfabricated silicon moulds. The piezoelectric properties and energy harvesting output of the fabricated PDMS ferroelectrets were both simulated and evaluated experimentally. For a single layer PDMS parallelogram void structure, the predicted piezoelectric coefficient d 33 from the ANSYS simulations is around 320 pC N−1. The fabricated PDMS ferroelectret has a low Young's modulus of 670 kPa and a piezoelectric coefficient of 240 pC N−1. A maximum d 33 of 520 pC N−1 was observed in a multilayer ferroelectret structure. When applying compressive forces simulating a footstep, the material demonstrated an output power of 2.73 μW when connected to a 65 MΩ resistive load.

[1]  G. Cavagna,et al.  The determinants of the step frequency in walking in humans. , 1986, The Journal of physiology.

[2]  Anantha P. Chandrakasan,et al.  Low-power CMOS digital design , 1992 .

[3]  Jaakko Raukola.  A new technology to manufacture polypropylene foam sheet and biaxially oriented foam film , 1998 .

[4]  A. Ruina,et al.  Multiple walking speed-frequency relations are predicted by constrained optimization. , 2001, Journal of theoretical biology.

[5]  Reimund Gerhard-Multhaupt,et al.  Less can be more. Holes in polymers lead to a new paradigm of piezoelectric materials for electret transducers , 2002 .

[6]  Mika Paajanen,et al.  Gas diffusion expansion-increased thickness and enhanced electromechanical response of cellular polymer electret films , 2002, Proceedings. 11th International Symposium on Electrets.

[7]  Gerhard M. Sessler,et al.  High-sensitivity piezoelectric microphones based on stacked cellular polymer films (L) , 2004 .

[8]  Werner Wirges,et al.  Two-step inflation of cellular polypropylene films: void-thickness increase and enhanced electromechanical properties , 2004 .

[9]  G. Sessler,et al.  Ferroelectrets: Soft Electroactive Foams for Transducers , 2004 .

[10]  W.Y. Zhang,et al.  Elastomer-supported cold welding for room temperature wafer-level bonding , 2004, 17th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. Maastricht MEMS 2004 Technical Digest.

[11]  Vivek De,et al.  Low-voltage-swing monolithic dc-dc conversion , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs.

[12]  John E A Bertram,et al.  Constrained optimization in human walking: cost minimization and gait plasticity , 2005, Journal of Experimental Biology.

[13]  H. Seggern,et al.  Breakdown-induced polarization buildup in porous fluoropolymer sandwiches: a thermally stable piezoelectret , 2006 .

[14]  S. Beeby,et al.  Energy harvesting vibration sources for microsystems applications , 2006 .

[15]  Daniel J. Inman,et al.  Energy Harvesting Technologies , 2008 .

[16]  Wolfram Wersing,et al.  Piezoelectricity: Evolution and Future of a Technology , 2008 .

[17]  Deirdre R. Meldrum,et al.  Thin PDMS Films Using Long Spin Times or Tert-Butyl Alcohol as a Solvent , 2009, PloS one.

[18]  Xiaoqing Zhang,et al.  Piezoelectricity and dynamic characteristics of laminated fluorocarbon films , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[19]  Steve Beeby,et al.  Energy Harvesting Systems: Principles, Modeling and Applications , 2010 .

[20]  E. Thomsen,et al.  Advantages of PZT thick film for MEMS sensors , 2010 .

[21]  D. Inman,et al.  Effects of Material Constants and Mechanical Damping on Power Generation , 2011 .

[22]  Daniel J. Inman,et al.  Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting , 2011 .

[23]  Steve Beeby,et al.  Energy Harvesting Systems , 2011 .

[24]  Anton Erhard,et al.  Piezoelectric and electrostrictive effects in ferroelectret ultrasonic transducers , 2012 .

[25]  Yu-Chuan Su,et al.  Piezoelectric polydimethylsiloxane films for MEMS transducers , 2011 .

[26]  H. Radousky,et al.  Energy harvesting: an integrated view of materials, devices and applications , 2012, Nanotechnology.

[27]  David P. Arnold,et al.  A compact human-powered energy harvesting system , 2013 .

[28]  Tie Li,et al.  Nanofabrication, effects and sensors based on micro-electro-mechanical systems technology , 2013, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[29]  Chang Kyu Jeong,et al.  Highly‐Efficient, Flexible Piezoelectric PZT Thin Film Nanogenerator on Plastic Substrates , 2014, Advanced materials.

[30]  Guang Yang,et al.  Challenges for Energy Harvesting Systems Under Intermittent Excitation , 2014, IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems.

[31]  Dibin Zhu,et al.  Energy harvesting study on single and multilayer ferroelectret foams under compressive force , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[32]  Yuejun Kang,et al.  The effects of poly(dimethylsiloxane) surface silanization on the mesenchymal stem cell fate. , 2015, Biomaterials science.

[33]  S. Beeby,et al.  Optimization of a PDMS structure for energy harvesting under compressive forces , 2015 .

[34]  Libor Rufer,et al.  Micro-structured PDMS piezoelectric enhancement through charging conditions , 2016 .

[35]  J. Yvonnet.  Piezoelectricity , 2019, Computational Homogenization of Heterogeneous Materials with Finite Elements.