Soft generators for roadway energy harvesting: a preliminary study on design and fabrication of stacked integrated dielectric elastomer architectures using liquid silicone rubber composites

In the framework of a multidisciplinary project focused on the development of soft generators for the road infrastructures, involving two laboratories of Electrical and Materials Engineering, a preliminary study concerning the energy conversion of passing vehicles through the use of dielectric elastomer generators (DEG) is presented. The practical limits related to the specific application, the excitation conditions, the trade-off concerning the active materials characteristics, and the structural architecture design have been taken into consideration for the choose of technological solutions, material engineering, and device dimensioning. The synthesis of soft composite materials based on the use of liquid silicone rubber matrix and organo-inorganic fillers, their electrical and mechanical characterization and their integration in a multilayer architecture obtained through a simple and low-cost process are presented. An interdigitated mechanical structure is designed to ensure a relevant electromechanical conversion in a limited space, allowing the integration of such a device, and also ensuring its robustness, in the extreme conditions that characterize the road environment.