Advanced Piezoelectric Composite Fibers with Shape Memory Polyurethane for Energy-Harvesting Applications

To overcome the drawbacks of previous piezoelectric composite fibers and fabrics with excessive stiffness, this paper explores the fabrication of flexible piezoelectric composite fibers using shape memory polyurethane (SMPU) and lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric material through a melt-spinning technique. While the shape recovery performance of the PZT/SMPU composite fibers with 60% PZT content experiences a slight reduction, it still achieves a level of 64.56%. Furthermore, the composite piezoelectric fabric with 60% PZT content generates an output voltage of 70.72 mV under sinusoidal vibration conditions at 10 μm. The polymer matrix significantly enhances the flexibility of the composite material, effectively encapsulating the PZT piezoelectric material and transferring external stress to it, thereby converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. Moreover, due to the characteristics of the shape memory effect, fabrics woven from PZT/SMPU composite fibers can easily deform into various shapes. Consequently, flexible piezoelectric composite fabrics offer superior comfort to the human body while being capable of bending into multiple forms, enabling the conversion of vibrational energy into electrical energy. This underscores the promising applications of flexible composite fabrics in the field of energy harvesting.