Temperature effects on output power of piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters

The performance of piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters was studied as a function of environment temperature. The devices fabricated by soft or hard PZTs were used to investigate the effect of material parameters on the thermal degradation of the devices. PZT MEMS device was also prepared and compared with the bulk devices to investigate scaling effect on the thermal degradation. All devices were heated up to 150 °C in an insulating chamber. Output power was estimated by Roundy’s equivalent circuit model and compared with experimental data. The output power of all devices decreased with the increase of the temperature. The output power as a function of temperature can be predicted by the change of piezoelectric coupling coefficient that is proportional to piezoelectric constant and inverse of square root of dielectric constant. Such combined influence on the output power leads to a lower thermal degradation rate of the soft PZT-based device at a lower temperature. For MEMS scale device based on PZT films, temperature dependence of the output power was reduced. This result can be attributed to decreased temperature dependence of dielectric and piezoelectric constants mainly due to constrained domain motions.

► The effect of temperature on the piezoelectric energy harvesters is investigated.
► A model presents the influential factor of coupling coefficient of a material.
► Reduced thermal degradation of thin film PZTs for output power is examined.