Porous ferroelectrics for energy harvesting applications

This paper provides an overview of energy harvesting using ferroelectric materials, with a particular focus on the energy harvesting capabilities of porous ferroelectric ceramics for both piezo- and pyroelectric harvesting. The benefits of introducing porosity into ferro- electrics such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT) has been known for over 30 years, but the potential advantages for energy harvesting from both ambient vibrations and temperature fluctuations have not been studied in depth. The article briefly discusses piezoelectric and pyro- electric energy harvesting, before evaluating the potential benefits of porous materials for increasing energy harvesting figures of merits and electromechanical/electrothermal coupling factors. Established processing routes are evaluated in terms of the final porous structure and the resulting effects on the electrical, thermal and mechanical properties

Functional Synthesis of a New Class of Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems

This paper discloses a new method of functional synthesis of a new class of MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) that could be conceived thanks to: (a) a new concept flexural hinge (that has been recently patented by the Author) and (b) the accurate detection of a MEMS device pseudo-rigid-body equivalent mechanism, which allows the application of several classic algorithms well known in kinematic synthesis. The adopted approach is explained and two examples are presented. Finally, basic information is provided for the MEMs technology based construction process that has been used for prototyping