A piezoelectric energy harvester with light-activated shape memory polymers

In this research, a host thin-plate laminated with LASMP and piezoelectric patch was presented to investigate its natural frequencies and further developed into a hybrid energy harvester to study its energy harvesting responses. The dynamic stiffness and noncontact mechanism which are special to LASMP are employed to adjust the natural frequencies of the hybrid energy harvester so as to achieve broadband resonance energy harvesting responses. Furthermore, effect of piezoelectric patch thickness on power output is discussed in detail. Numerical discussions indicate that the power output of the self-tuned energy harvester increases 40% for each mode.