Self-powered carbon fibre piezoelectric sensor
Researchers in Japan have developed a high-strength self-powered flexible sensor by combining piezoelectric composites with unidirectional carbon fibre (UDCF).
The group at Tohoku University fabricated the piezoelectric sensor using a combination of unidirectional carbon fibre fabric (UDCF) and potassium sodium niobate (KNN) nanoparticles mixed with epoxy (EP) resin. The UDCF served as both an electrode and a directional reinforcement.
The UDCF/KNN-EP device maintains high performance at 1.1V even after being stretched more than 1000 times and was shown to withstand a much higher load when pulled along the fiber direction compared to other flexible materials with a Youngs modulus of 282.5 MPa.
When subjected to impacts and stretching perpendicular to the fibre direction, it surpasses other piezoelectric polymers in terms of energy output density. The material was incorporated into athletic gear and used to measure the impact caused by baseball catching and track footfall patterns.
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“Everyday items, from protective gears to sports equipment, are connected to the internet as part of the Internet of Things (IoT), and many of them are equipped with sensors that collect data,” says Fumio Narita, co-author of the study and professor at Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Environmental Studies. “And effective integration of these IoT devices into personal gear requires innovative solutions in power management and material design to ensure durability, flexibility.”
“We wondered if personal protective equipment, made flexible using a combination of carbon fibre and a piezoelectric composite, could offer comfort, more durability, and sensing capabilities,” says Narita.
“CF/KNN-EP was integrated into sports equipment and accurately detected the impact from catching a baseball and a person’s step frequency. In our work, the high strength of CFs was leveraged to improve the sustainability and reliability of battery-free sensors while maintaining their directional stretchability and provides valuable insights and guidance for future research in the field of motion detection,” said Narita.
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