Energy Harvesting from Pavements Using Pyroelectric Single Crystal and Nano-Composite Based Smart Materials

Energy harvesting (also known as power harvesting or energy scavenging) technology allows capturing unused ambient energy such as solar, wind, thermal, strain and kinetic, energy of gas and liquid flows and converting the energy into another form of usable energy. The goal of this study was to determine if there is a possibility of capturing thermal energy from pavements and storing the energy and using it as alternative power source to other devices. In this paper, pyroelectric materials have been used as the energy harvester. A single crystal based material called Lithium Tantalate (LiTaO₃), and a polycrystalline composite material based on ordinary Portland cement with carbon nano-fibers have been used as pyroelectric smart materials. The present research indicates that simple material such as Portland cement can be used to capture heat energy from pavements, which can be stored in capacitor for the use of power source to other sensor electronics.