An easy to assemble ferroelectret for human body energy harvesting

Ferroelectret is a thin and flexible cellular polymer foam that generates electrical power under mechanical force. This paper reports the fabrication and testing of an easy to assemble ferroelectret which is made from two fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) films and a standard polymer foam formed into a sandwich structure. The measured piezoelectric coefficient d33 of the FEP-porous polymer ferroelectret is 1000 pC/N. The energy harvester based on the FEP-porous polymer ferroelectret generate an output power of 6.4 µW. This is corresponding to volume unit power output of 64 µW/cm3. The practical electromechanical coupling factor is achieved at 0.107. Within 40 seconds, a 10 µF capacitor is charged up to 0.2 V by the FEP-porous polymer ferroelectret harvester through a rectifier.