Technology Transfer Department

Application sectors

Problem to solve

Growing energy demand and associated climate change have led to a diversification of energy production methods. In recent years, nanogenerators (NGs) for energy harvesting have attracted considerable interest as a potential alternative to energy generated by conventional fossil fuels. This proposal explores a further energy harvesting option by exploiting the mechanical motion of photomobile polymers and the electrical conversion of piezoelectric devices

Description

The device proposed in this document concerns the use of concentrated light through optical systems coupled to piezoelectric systems realized on photomobile polymers. The technical advantage of the proposed solution lies in its sustainability both in terms of easy availability of materials and from an economic point of view. On the one hand, piezoelectricity induced by mechanical deformations has long been known. It is obtained by means of the manufacture of piezoelectric systems made on flexible polymers (PDMS, or other) or by flexible piezoelectric polymers (such as Polyvinylidene Fluoride, PDVF).The use of more and more sophisticated optics has given rise to various types of solar power plants (Concentrating Solar Power, CSP). Their advantage over wind or photovoltaic turbines is the easy implementation with energy storage systems obtained from an electrical storage device and therefore the generation of conveyable energy. In this technological framework, our proposal designs a further road developed parallel to that of exploiting concentrated sunlight.

Research group involved