journal article·2026-05-15Open access

A Flexible Poling‐Free Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Based on Gradient Ti‐Doped BiFeO 3 Films

Wentao Yang, Panpan Lv, Guiyun Gao, Shuzhi Zhang, Hang Zhan, Cuncheng Li, Luchao Ren, Jin Qian, Mingwei Zhang

Abstract

Flexible piezoelectric materials that combine high performance and outstanding flexibility are imperative for advancing next‐generation wearable electronics, self‐powered sensors, and energy harvesters. The creation of useful piezoelectricity in piezoelectrics requires a poling process via the temporary application of a strong electric field, which introduces risks including electrical breakdown and thermal depolarization. Here, a self‐aligned polarization state is realized in compositional graded Ti‐doped BiFeO 3 films via the formation of defect dipoles and the spatial modulation of strain distributions. The down‐graded film, among those with different configurations, manifests a notable upward initial polarization ( P 0 = −15.7 μC cm −2 ) and a substantial internal bias field ( E bias = 167.2 kV cm −1 ). The prototype piezoelectric harvester based on the flexible down‐graded film can deliver a maximum output power of 2.26 μW at a load resistance of 3.52 MΩ, a high sensitivity of 5.92 V N −1 without the need for external poling treatment, and robust mechanical durability of 8000 cycles. These advances in self‐poling enable the derived films to offer significant freedom to design flexible piezoelectric devices that are well suited for microscale energy harvesters and sensors.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials · Multiferroics and related materials · Innovative Energy Harvesting Technologies

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Technology Zibo 255000 China

Functional Materials Research Laboratory, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University Shanghai 201804 China

Analytical Testing Center, Shandong University of Technology Zibo 255000 China

Hubei Key Laboratory of Micro‐Nanoelectronic Materials and Devices, Hubei University Wuhan 430062 China

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China · Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province · China Postdoctoral Science Foundation

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