Performance improvement of piezoelectric materials in energy harvesting in recent days – a review

Piezoelectric elements are inevitable in modern day physics playing a vital role in many applications. Any piezoelectric element requires compression to produce energy in the form of a weak electrical ac signal. Mechanical vibrations are known to cause deflections which are enough to produce energy from the piezoelectric materials. In this paper, a review of the piezoelectric materials is made on their basic modes of excitation for producing energy. Also, various mechanisms and techniques used to harvest energy recently are presented and discussed extensively. Piezoelectric energy harvesting using MEMS is emphasized much as this is the era of micromechanical systems. Most of the piezoelectric energy harvesting systems relies on cantilever-oriented deflection to produce maximum vibration. In general cantilever beams fitted with piezoelectric materials produce electrical energy from mechanical vibration when deflected; hence detailed review on the different shapes of cantilever is also submitted. Significant parameters contributing to improved performance are dealt with special importance