Pyrolectric materials could harvest energy from naturally occurring temperature changes such as changes in ambient temperature, and artificial temperature changes due to exhaust gases, convection or solar energy.
These materials can operate with a high thermodynamic efficiency and, showing an advantage over thermoelectric materials, they do not require bulky heat sinks to maintain the required heat difference. Hence, “pyroelectric energy harvesting” could be the right methodology to rescue some of the enormous amount of energy wasted as heat by converting the thermal fluctuations into electrical energy (e.g. more than 50% of the energy generated in the U.S. is lost that way each year).
Reusing the wasted energy and increasing the share of renewable energy in final energy consumption are important EU targets, expressed in the Europe 2020 Strategy. Enhancing energy efficiency solutions would help citizens both in economic (lower electricity bills) and ecological (clean, green energy) terms.
This project examines the development of pyroelectric nanotextured ceramics, for use in future ambient energy harvesting. An original combination of an inexpensive mechano-chemical synthesis for the production of hexagonal ZnS (wurtzite) nanopowder, and the subsequent fabrication of nanotextured ceramics applying a high-pressure-low-temperature sintering, will be used, an approach we have explored previously to suppress grain growth.
Neither the fabrication methods, nor the existence of nanotextured pyroelectric ceramics of wurtzite have yet been reported in the literature. In particular the project will explore the potential of the wurtzite nanotextured ceramics as new functional anisotropic bulk materials for pyroelectric energy harvesting. We expect the pyroelectric properties to improve with the introduction of nanostructures and texturing within the anisotropic material like wurtzite, which should ultimately lead to more efficient pyroelectric devices for energy harvesting.
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/797951/reporting
The list of presentations and conferences attended:
- Radenka Krsmanović Whiffen, “New materials for pyroelectric energy harvesting”, Invited lecture at La Sapienza University of Rome, 23/05/2019, Rome, Italy. The seminar was part of the Academic Studies Plan organized for students on the Ph. D. Course in “Electrical, Materials, Raw Materials and Nanotechnology Engineering” coordinated by Prof. Salvatore Celozzi, Ph.D.
- Radenka Krsmanović Whiffen, Loris Pietrelli, Amelia Montone: “Tailoring co-precipitation synthesis to maximize production yield of nanocrystalline wurtzite ZnS”, Poster presentation at the NanoInnovation 2019, June 11-14, 2019, Rome, Italy. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4026037
- Elena Salernitano, Selene Grilli, Radenka Krsmanović Whiffen, Giuseppe Magnani, Francesca Mazzanti, Amelia Montone, Luciano Pilloni: “ZnS wurtzite via the Two-Step Sintering process: effects on ceramic density and microstructure”, Poster presentation at the NanoInnovation2019, June 11-14, 2019, Rome, Italy. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4026068
- Radenka Krsmanović Whiffen, Loris Pietrelli, Luciano Pilloni, Giuseppe Magnani, Elena Salernitano, Selene Grilli, Francesca Mazzanti and Amelia Montone: “Electron Microscopy study of nanocrystalline wurtzite ZnS produced via a co-precipitation technique and its pyroelectric ceramics processed by 2-step- pressureless sintering”, Poster presentation at the MCM2019 - 14th Multinational Congress on Microscopy, September 15-20, 2019, Belgrade, Serbia. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4026092
- Radenka Krsmanović Whiffen, Loris Pietrelli, Duško Dudić, Amelia Montone: “Approaches to maximizing the production yield of ZnS wurtzite nanopowder: Co-precipitation synthesis using a pilot-plant reactor”, Poster presentation (online) at the NanoInnovation2020, September 15-18, 2020, Rome, Italy.
http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4028753
Scientific papers published in Open Access journal:
Radenka Krsmanović Whiffen, Elena Salernitano, Selene Grilli, Giuseppe Magnani, Francesca Mazzanti, Luciano Pilloni, Amelia Montone: “ZnS wurtzite ceramic fabrication by a simple and cost‐effective pressureless sintering method: A microstructure development overview”, Microscopie 2020; 31:9203, doi:10.4081/microscopie.2020.9203
Radenka Krsmanović Whiffen, Amelia Montone, Loris Pietrelli, Luciano Pilloni "On Tailoring Co-Precipitation Synthesis to Maximize Production Yield of Nanocrystalline Wurtzite ZnS" Nanomaterials 2021, 11(3), 715; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11030715