piezoelectric device Archives – The Green Optimistic

Chinese Scientists Find Alternative to Lead-Containing Mainstream Piezoelectric Material

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:57:43 +0000

You probably learned in high school what the piezoelectric effect is: a phenomenon where an electromotive force is generated by applying mechanical stress to a material. So far, piezoelectric devices used a material called lead zirconate titanate (PZT). However, PZT is expensive and contains lead, which is bad for the environment. Progress does happen, though, […]

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New Discovery Makes Piezoelectric Materials 25% More Efficient

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:31:40 +0000

A new project at National Physical Laboratory in the UK aims to develop a much more efficient piezoelectric energy harvester. They found a serious glitch in current piezo devices that keeps them from giving their best at converting mechanical stress to electricity. Despite the fact that the powers outputted by piezoelectric devices are small (per […]

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Yell at Your Phone to Charge It: New Piezoelectric Device Could Help You

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:41:20 +0000

Imagine that one day you could charge your mobile phone or other low-consumption devices just by placing them in noisy areas or by yelling at them. South-Korean scientists from the Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, are now studying a type of zinc oxide-based device that could do just that.

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Skin-Like Piezoelectric Device Could Save Thousands of Dollars by Replacing Batteries

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:50:00 +0000

Researchers from the University of Notre Dame in the US have designed a PZT (lead zirconate titanate) piezoelectric device that resembles skin (they called it the EH skin) and that can harness energy from the mechanical work applied to it. The new device can be used in a variety of applications, ranging from wireless sensor units to patches that get energy from vibrations and pass it on to the grid. The sample they tested got as much as 3.7 mW.

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Harvesting Energy From Small Vibrations for Use in Pacemakers and Implants

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:15:50 +0000

University of Michigan researchers, at their Engineering Research Center for Wireless Integrated Microsystems, have just created highly efficient some energy-harvesting devices that use the energy from surrounding arbitrary, non-periodic vibrations.

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