Smart Ceramics for Energy Harvesting

Thomas Rödig studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Dresden (Germany). After his Graduation in 2003, he works at Fraunhofer IKTS in the Department Smart Materials and Systems. The focus of his work is the integration of piezoelectric material into systems, which can be actuators, sensors or generators. In the field of piezoelectric generators the author is dealing with topics like material selection, generator design, adaption and storage electronic as well as overall energy management.

The scientific field of the Fraunhofer IKTS is focussed on the development and application of modern high performance ceramic materials, such as piezoelectric ceramic. The Smart Materials and Systems Department uses its extensive experience in science and engineering to develop and integrate industry-relevant dielectric functional ceramics into devices, microsystems and active structures, such as piezoelectric generators. The department has special competence in the field of complex perovskites which introduce actuating, sensing, generator and electronic functions in monolithic devices and systems. The complete technological development process is available. This expertise, combined with unique modelling and characterization tools.