Recyclable, Biological Piezoelectric Materials for Energy Harvesting from Ambient Vibrations (REVOLUTION)

Project Description

Piezoelectric harvesting devices convert mechanical movement into usable current and as such represent an enormous opportunity to convert untapped vibrational energy to electricity. State-of-the-art piezoelectric materials in use today contain significant quantities of toxic lead (Pb) which limits their implementation on a large scale. In recent times Biological Piezoelectric Materials (BPEMs) have been shown to exhibit high power densities and are promising candidates in piezoelectric energy harvesting. Being biological in origin, they are non-toxic, sustainable, and fully recyclable. However, the processing of such materials into forms suitable for industrial applications remains challenging.

Current approaches to manufacturing BPEM materials rely on bulk crystallisation methodologies and exhibit little to no control of the size or crystal form of the piezoelectric material produced. As such BPEMs have predominantly remained a lab-based curiosity rather than components in usable real-world devices.

This project aims to develop the technologies that underpin the production of stable and robust piezoelectric sheets based on BPEMs suitable for energy harvesting applications. By exploiting state of the art processing techniques currently employed in the pharmaceutical industry to control crystallisation and nucleation growth rates, the project will produce and optimise sheet like BPEMs for energy harvesting applications. BPEM configurations will then be optimised to enable usable power densities for practical applications. Unlike existing systems based on Pb and rare earth elements, the produced BPEM sheets will be non-toxic and fully recyclable representing a paradigm shift in the design of energy harvesting devices. The final stage of the project will produce prototype testing devices for further evaluation and subsequent commercialisation.