Design and simulation of a novel leaf-shaped piezoelectric energy harvester

Abstract The design of geometric structures is a crucial approach for enhancing the performance of piezoelectric energy harvesters (PEH), which is thought to be an excellent method for capturing energy. This paper proposes a novel leaf-shaped energy harvester with excellent performance of electrical outputs, which consists of a unimorph curved beam, a straight beam and a tip mass. The shape of the curved beam is one leaf of a derivative of the lemniscate curve, with the shape being determined by an order parameter n , drawing bioinspiration from the spine. The numerical simulations based on 2D models indicate that the order parameter n plays a significant role in the output performance. It has been demonstrated that, for n = 2 and with a tip mass of 7 g, the output voltage per unit acceleration can reach up to 223.3 V g −1 at a low frequency of 27.0 Hz. As n increases, the peak output voltage initially rises and flattens at higher values of n , demonstrating the influences of beam curvature and shape on the output performances. The effects of varying arc height and chord length on electrical output were also explored, revealing that lower arc heights can lead to higher voltages. The influence of the straight beam length on the energy harvester’s output performance was also investigated, demonstrating its significant impact. Overall, the findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the design parameters affecting the efficacy of leaf-shaped energy harvesters.