Since its discovery in 1880, piezoelectricity has found a use in a wide variety of applications, including the production and detection of sound, generation of high voltages, ultrafine focusing of optical assemblies, and as the basis for scanning probe microscopy and the time reference source in quartz watches. The ubiquity and broad applicability of piezoelectric devices contribute to a global demand of nearly $15 billion, but the vast majority are lead-based ceramics, posing limits in both terms of toxicity and rigidity.
Description
By depositing conductive electrodes onto silicon-based organic polymers or other elastomeric polymer films, researchers have created an inherently flexible and non-toxic piezoelectric device. Piezoelectric oligopeptides are self-assembled in a water solution of the peptide in just minutes; contacting one surface with another with opposite surface directionality creates a bilayer device that generates measurable electrical current in response to applied force.
Applications
· Sensors for touch, force, impact, or vibration
· Energy harvesting
· Microelectromechanical and nanoelectromechanical systems
· Vibrational damping
· Ultrasound microphones
· Sonar
· Speakers
· Providing a flexible, inexpensive, and non-toxic alternative to current piezoelectricity-based devices
Advantages
· Compared to traditional ceramic piezoelectric devices, this fabrication method produces devices that are polymer-based and inherently flexible
· Non-toxic and biodegradable
· Small-scale—active layer is only a few nanometers thick
· Inexpensive and easy to fabricate
· Simple to pattern for ultrasonic microphones or speakers
· Does not require electrical poling
Invention Readiness
Prototype
IP Status
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20140375172A1
