Piezoelectricity and Its Applications

The piezoelectric effect is extensively encountered in nature and many synthetic materials. Piezoelectric materials are capable of transforming mechanical strain and vibration energy into electrical energy. This property allows opportunities for implementing renewable and sustainable energy through power harvesting and self-sustained smart sensing in buildings. As the most common construction material, plain cement paste lacks satisfactory piezoelectricity and is not efficient at harvesting the electrical energy from the ambient vibrations of a building system. In recent years, many techniques have been proposed and applied to improve the piezoelectric capacity of cement-based composite, namely admixture incorporation and physical. The successful application of piezoelectric materials for sustainable building development not only relies on understanding the mechanism of the piezoelectric properties of various building components, but also the latest developments and implementations in the building industry. Therefore, this review systematically illustrates research efforts to develop new construction materials with high piezoelectricity and energy storage capacity. In addition, this article discusses the latest techniques for utilizing the piezoelectric materials in energy harvesters, sensors and actuators for various building systems. With advanced methods for improving the cementations piezoelectricity and applying the material piezoelectricity for different building functions, more renewable and sustainable building systems are anticipated

Effect of Fe doped and capping agent – Structural, optical, luminescence, and antibacterial activity of ZnO nanoparticles

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are indispensable materials for spectral and optical phenomena, prepared by a chemical precipitation method. We studied their properties resulting from different dopants in the nanoscale. The samples' structure, texture, energy band, and photoluminescence were examined using XRD, TEM, FTIR, PL, and UV–VIS spectroscopy. XRD shows the single hexagonal Wurtzite with crystallite sizes from 10.1 to 17.8 nm and the spherical shape particles. The octahedral sites at 470–489 cm−1 and the tetrahedral sites at 616 cm−1 were observed in the FTIR studies. PL showed a wider bandgap, better UV emission, and decreased defect density of the Fe doped than that of the pristine one. Fe-doped ZnO NPs are more active than pristine ZnO NPs for their quenching or absorbing properties, indicating their antibiotic properties