Integrated Powder-Based Thick Films for Thermoelectric, Pyroelectric, and Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Devices

Energy harvesting devices based on piezoelectric, pyroelectric, and thermoelectric materials offer an attractive solution for batteryless and wireless sensor nodes for a range of sensor applications. Current devices are typically fabricated using semimanual approaches leading to higher costs and reduced yields as well as significant material wastage. Powder-based thick film devices have been shown to be capable of harvesting milliwatt levels of power while the associated printing technologies offer commercially attractive fabrication solutions. This paper provides a review of examples of recent piezoelectric, pyroelectric, and thermoelectric powder-based thick film energy harvester devices and outlines potential fabrication techniques, ink compositions, and ways to reduce processing temperatures that can be used to create integrated thick film energy harvesting devices. The key to the creation of such devices is the management of thermal budgets and processing environments to ensure the functional properties of the thick films are maximized.