PZT thick film element balancing flexibility with piezoelectricity fabricated by electrohydrodynamics jet printing used for micro power generator

In this paper, a novel flexible piezoelectric thick-film generator is proposed to address the challenges caused by flexible deformation and high piezoelectricity. This improves the output charge of the generator, which breaks the limitation imposed by the rigid and brittle nature of traditional piezoelectric bulks on elastic strain and piezoelectric performance. Additionally, the low piezoelectric coefficient of piezoelectric polymer-based piezoelectric generators is also resolved. Given the high thickness precision of electrohydrodynamic jet printing technology, the facile production of 10-μm thick film components is achieved through a process of printing and layer-by-layer accumulation on a flexible substrate, which ensures the flexible deformation and piezoelectric characteristics of the functional film. To ensure that AC is converted into stable DC output, a bipolar charge collection circuit is developed. The printed thick film produces an excellent performance in surface uniformity and smoothness. Notably, the piezoelectric constant d33 is measured to be approximately 80 pC/N, which is five times higher than the d33 value of flexible PVDF films. Additionally, the strength of adhesion between the printed thick film and the flexible substrate is remarkably high, reaching up to 20 N, which is an order of magnitude higher than the magnetron sputtering method. In a single cycle, the forward charge output reaches an impressively high level of 260 nC, which is approximately thirteen times the charge transfer capability of PVDF flexible generator. Furthermore, a bipolar charge collection circuit is applied to convert AC into DC effectively. This increases the output voltage from 2 V to 4 V. The illumination of commercial electronic screens and 39 LED lights demonstrates the applicability of micron-scale jet-printed thick films in micro-energy harvesting.