Date Approved

6-12-2020

Embargo Period

6-15-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S. Mechanical Engineering

Department

Mechanical Engineering

College

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering

Advisor

Xue, Wei

Committee Member 1

Bakrania, Smitesh

Committee Member 2

Haas, Francis Mac

Keywords

Energy, Harvesting, Piezoelectric

Subject(s)

Microharvesters (Electronics)

Disciplines

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

In this research, one of the widely used polymers, poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF), was used to develop thin-film polymer energy harvesters. Dimethylformamide (DMF) and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) were used to dissolve the PVDF powder. Four different (0%, 3%, 5%, and 7%) ZnO nanoparticle (NP) concentrations were used to enhance the electrical output of the thin-film energy harvesters. A sonication bath and additional MEK were used in dispersing the ZnO NPs to obtained uniform PVDF/ZnO NP solution. The electrode poling technique was used for dipole alignment to improve the electrical performance of the devices. The fabricated samples were tested using the tensile testing method to investigate the mechanical properties of thin-film energy harvesters for each ZnO NP concentration. PVDF thin-film samples with 7% ZnO NPs had the lowest Young's modulus at 994.21 MPa. The voltage and power output of fabricated devices were increased as a result of embedding ZnO NPs and polarization. The highest power and peak-to-peak output voltage were produced by poled PVDF thin-film energy harvester with 7% ZnO NPs. The harvested power value was 31.14 mW which was 94% higher than the unpoled pure PVDF thin-film devices; the highest peak-to-peak voltage was measured as 11.2 V which was 84% higher than that of the unpoled pure PVDF thin-film devices.

Download

Share

COinS