Energy Harvesting: Breakthrough

Technologies Through Polymer

Composites
 Authors
 Authors and affiliations
 Saquib AhmedEmail author
 Sankha Banerjee
 Udhay Sundar
 Hector Ruiz
 Sanjeev Kumar
 Ajith Weerasinghe

Abstract
Polymer composites have been extensively studied in the last few years toward application in
solar-, thermoelectric-, and vibration-based energy harvesting technologies. Of late, polymer
nanocomposites are being investigated successfully in hybrid organic–inorganic devices, in
bulk heterojunction devices incorporating all flavors of solar cells, and through the perovskite
structures. In the thermoelectric power generation arena, abundance of raw materials, lack of
toxicity, and the feasibility for large-area applications are all advantages that polymer
nanocomposites boast over their inorganic predecessors. Within the vibration-based energy
systems, polymer nanocomposites are being used as the magnets within the harvester devices;
they offer low rigidity and easy processing (spin coating, drop casting, and molding). Also,
recent work has focused on utilizing polymer ceramic nanocomposites as electrostatic energy
storage materials. Lastly, polymer-based piezoelectric materials can be used directly as an
active material in different transduction applications.

Keywords
Polymer nanocomposite Hybrid organic–inorganic solar cells Thermoelectric
power generation Seebeck Piezoelectric Transduction Dielectric
storage Piezocomposites Energy harvesting