Flexoelectric polarization induced by inhomogeneous heating and implications for energy harvesting

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOLIDS AND STRUCTURES

卷:162

Article

Yurkov, A. S.¹  Dejneka, A.²  Yudin, P. V.^1,2 

[1] RAS, Kutateladze Inst Thermophys, SB, 1 Ac Lavrenreva Ave, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia

[2] Acad Sci Czech Republ, Inst Phys, Na Slovance 2, Prague 18221 8, Czech Republic

关键词: Flexoelectricity;    Polarization;    Plate;    Heating;    Energy harvesting;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2018.12.003

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Flexoelectricity - the coupling between electric polarization and strain gradient - is an effect which promises intriguing applications at nano-scale. Strong strain gradients that appear in nano-sized and nano-structured systems lead to electric polarisation, as in analogy to piezoelectricity but without restrictions on the material symmetry. In contrast to piezoelectricity, the theoretical treatment of the flexoelectric effect is a challenging issue where a number of bulk, surface, static and dynamic contributions are encountered. Combined with other effects, this provides the possibility of additional, non-trivial couplings. In this paper, we address thermo-electric effects arising in an inhomogeneously heated sample. The theory is developed using variational principles and applied describing the polarization response in an inhomogeneously heated thin plate. We demonstrate that the effect can be used for the conversion of waste heat into electric power, up to tens of Watts per kilogram of the flexoelectric material. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free