A review of the state-of-the-art in improving piezoelectric properties

This review will present a collection of previous research studies in the field of enhanced piezoelectric properties. At first, an introduction will be provided about the field of energy, methods of harvesting energy, the field of employing piezoelectricity, and also the concept of piezoelectricity to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy when used as a sensor. It can be employed as an actuator that can convert electrical energy into mechanical energy. This paper will provide an overview of techniques for enhancing the characteristics of piezoelectric materials. There are many of these methods, such as composite and hybrid materials, partial size, shape, and dimension, compressibility, lamination, 3D printed piezoelectric, coating, functional grid materials, hybrid systems, and more. For each method, different materials were used to prepare the piezoelectric. These materials can be broken down into several groups, such as smart materials that have piezoelectric effects, shape memory effects, and pyroelectric effects; reinforcement materials as Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT), CFRP (Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer), or GFRP (Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer); matrix materials as UV-curable resin, and Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS); materials that help with the distribution process as N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF); and electrode materials as copper, platinum, and graphene. Additionally, the size of the added materials was defined, as most are nanomaterials. We will display the hybrid system, which is multifunctional. It is considered an important aspect of future development. In this part, different effects are combined into one application. For example, the smart scaffold combines the piezoelectric and shape memory effects. The real benefit of the research is to make the material's properties work better in general, and piezoelectricity works better in particular. These improvements can be done by studying each method on its own and then trying to combine some improvement methods in future research to make piezoelectricity work better and make it useful in more situations.

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Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MNiSW, umowa nr POPUL/SP/0154/2024/02 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki II" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki (2025).