• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.25 no.10
• /
• pp.766-772
• /
• 2012

Spring supported piezoelectric cantilever structures (SPCS) were fabricated for vibration-based energy harvester application. We selected four elastic springs (A, B, C, and D type) as cantilever's supporter, each elastic spring has a different spring constant (S). The C type of SPCS ($S_C$: 4,649 N/m) showed a extremely low resonance frequency of 81 Hz along with the highest power output of 38.5 mW while the A type of SPCS ($S_A$: 40,629 N/m) didn't show a resonance frequency while. Therefore, it is considered that the lower spring constant lead to a lower resonance frequency of the SPCS. In addition, a tip mass (18 g) at one end of the SPCS could further reduce the resonance frequency without heavy degradation of power output.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.487-494
• /
• 2021

Piezoelectric generators use direct piezoelectric effects that convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Many studies were attempted to fabricate piezoelectric generators using piezoelectrics such as ZnO, PZT, PVDF. However, these various inorganic/organic piezoelectric materials are not suitable for bio-implantable devices due to problems such as brittleness, toxicity, bio-incompatibility, bio-degradation. Thus, in this paper, piezoelectric generators were prepared using a silk fibroin film which is bio-compatible by dip-coating method. The silk fibroin films are a mixed state of silk I and silk II having stable β-sheet type structures and shows the d₃₃ value of 8~10 pC/N. There was a difference in output voltages according to the thickness. The silk fibroin generators, coated 10 times and 20 times, revealed the power density of 16.07 μW/cm² and 35.31 μW/cm² using pushing tester, respectively. The silk fibroin generators are sensitive to various pressure levels, which may arise from body motions such as finger tapping, foot pressing, wrist shaking, etc. The silk fibroin piezoelectric generators with bio-compatibility shows the applicability as a low-power implantable piezoelectric generator, healthcare monitoring service, and biotherapy devices.