Comparison of electroactive polymers for energy scavenging applications

Electroactive polymers, generally used as actuators, offer very promising levels of performance in sensor mode, particularly in scavenging ambient mechanical energy applications. New, innovative, high performance, flexible generators can be developed to supply low consumption systems. This technology has the potential to be an alternative to traditional solutions based on electromagnetism, electrostatic or piezoelectricity, which are rigid solutions, mostly used in the high frequency range. This paper reports an extensive investigation of electroactive polymers for energy scavenging applications. The operating principle, properties and analytic models of six polymers are presented and compared in terms of scavenging energy density, operating area, advantages and inconveniences.