Page 134 - eBook_Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Manufacturing V2

Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Manufacturing –
Volume 2

Future studies will result in additional performance gains as film
thickness, electrode structures, and environmental stability are
optimised

INTRODUCTION

As technology advances throughout the years, making devices or
systems smaller yet smarter and more energy efficient, such as
portable equipment, very common wearable devices, and even
more internal sensors, the importance of small-scale, flexible, and
dependable energy sources increases. One such interesting
response to this demand is the use of devices that generate
electricity through simple movements or vibrations around them,
referred to as piezoelectric electricity harvesting (Paradiso &
Starner, 2005).

However, the two materials that have long been used in
piezoelectric applications - PZT and PVDF - differ in that the first
one has led to environmental pollution, and the second needs
expensive solvents and very complicated and high-temperature
processes. All these challenges paved the way to create less
complicated, safer, and inexpensive alternatives (Liu, Zhong, Lee,
Lee & Lin, 2018).

One such material for this investigation was Rochelle salt,
which has piezoelectric properties since its discovery in the early
20th century. This makes it cheap, environmentally friendly, and
easily grown or processed at low temperatures, making it a rather
great candidate for low-cost applications in energy harvesting
(Liu, Zhong, Lee, Lee & Lin, 2018).

The experiment aimed to design a very simple, low-cost, and
possibly, even construct a piezoelectric device using only three
materials-Aluminium tape, Rochelle salt, and enamel copper wire.
It used the aluminium tape as a substrate and a bottom electrode,
depositing the Rochelle salt crystals directly onto the tape by a
rough showering technique for uniform and consistent coating
(Liu, Zhong, Lee, Lee & Lin, 2018).

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