Orateurs invités

"Large harvested energy with non linear pyroelectric materials"

 

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Francesco Cottone, University of Perugia, Italy :

 

 

Piezo-electret polymers convert mechanical energy into electricity through a gas-filled polymer matrix, making them ideal for sensors and energy harvesting. Conventional synthetic materials like polypropylene and Teflon pose environmental concerns. This talk presents sustainable 3D-printed energy harvesters using low-cost, eco-friendly foamed polymers, such as polylactic acid blended with natural wax composites as electrets and integrated with graphene electrodes. These materials offer a promising pathway for greener energy conversion technologies.

 

Francesco COTTONE is associate professor at Department of Physics and Geology at University of Perugia (Italy). During his Ph.D in Physics in 2008, Francesco pioneered the concept of nonlinear vibrational energy harvesting systems. Since 2013, Francesco has been the principal investigator and local responsible of EU Funded projects related to energy harvesting (NanoPower, PROTEUS, EnABLES, IESRES). He currently coordinates the ongoing project “Nanostructured and advanced materials and devices for energy harvesting” within the VITALITY innovation ecosystem (PNRR) and directs the micro and nano technology for energy lab at department of Physics and Geology. He is active member of the PowerMEMS and EnerHarv international committee. His scientific expertise includes MEMS and NEMS, energy harvesting systems and innovative piezoelectric materials. His publications counts more than 5000 citations.

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Olivier Bourgeois, Institut Néel, France :

"New thermomoelectric thin films of (2D materials) for energy harvesting at the nanoscale"

 

With the emergence of low power communication protocols, there is a large demand for autonomous micro-sources of energy that can deliver few tens of microWatt. Moreover, as sizes of chips are shrinking massively, there is an emerging need of collecting this energy at very low dimension close to the source of heat. At Institut Néel we have developed an expertise in the elaboration of suspended thermal sensors: membrane based thermoelectric nano-TEG; planar nano-TEG are made of silicon nitride membranes equipped with p-n junctions. The proof of concept has been validated using Bi₂Te₃ n and p types TE thin films (ZT ~ 0.2). The MOIZ start-up, spin-off from Institut NEEL, is currently commercializing TE based energy harvester based on this technology. However, since these materials are toxic and finally limited in performance, we are looking for innovative materials and architecture to boost the performance and enlarge the application field of TE energy harvester without having to rely on bismuth telluride. First, we will show the performance of large arrays of membranes, constituting the planar nanoTEG. By using the Harman method, we can directly obtain the ZT value of the full device based on bismuth telluride. Second, we will show the thermoelectric properties measured on new materials with high potential like Transition-Metal Dichalcogenide (TMD) 2D materials. A specific lab-on-chip has been developed to obtained Seebeck, s and power factor on ultra-thin layers of SnSe₂ and PtSe₂. Future prospectives on topological insulator like WeSe₂ will be also discussed along with new architecture to include them in real devices.