Generate electricity by attaching device to your clothes

There are two types of energy harvesters based on whether they work using the triboelectric effect or the piezoelectric effect. The device developed by Professor Jang’s team is based on the piezoelectric effect, which generates electricity through physical activities such as elastic skin or joint movement.

The literature contains several studies focusing on piezoelectric energy harvesters, but most use organic or composite piezoelectric materials, which are less energy efficient. This makes it difficult to obtain sufficient energy from body movement, thus limiting their use as wearable energy devices.

The device developed by Professor Jang’s team is based on lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and has high piezoelectric efficiency. PZT has excellent piezoelectric properties, but is hard and brittle, making it difficult to use as a stretchable device. However, Professor Jang’s team designed PZT into a three-dimensional structure that is insensitive to deformation while ensuring high energy efficiency and stretchability.

They also introduced a new curvature-specific coupling electrode design that divides the electrodes into distinct sections so that the device’s electrical energy is not canceled out. This makes the energy efficiency 280 times higher than traditional tensile piezoelectric energy harvesters.

“The development of this highly efficient stretchable piezoelectric energy harvester technology is a major achievement of this research,” said Professor Zhang. “We expect this technology to become useful when commercialized and lead to the practical use of wearable energy harvesters.”

The research was supported by the Korea National Research Foundation’s STEAM Research Program and Future Leading Characteristics Research Program and NAVER’s Digital Biology Research Program. Results published in December ACS Nanoa world-renowned journal in the field of nanoscience.