The performance of a piezoelectric cantilevered energy harvester with an imperfectly bonded interface

A model based on linear electromechanical coupling theory is developed to analyze the performance of a piezoelectric cantilevered energy harvester (PCEH) with an imperfectly bonded interface. The PCEH is made of a piezoelectric layer bonded to a metallic layer and works in flexural mode. The imperfectly bonded interface is modeled by the shear-lag model. A sixth-order governing differential equation is derived and its analytical solution is obtained. The effect of the interfacial property on the dynamic behaviors and the electrical power output of the vibration-based PCEH is investigated. The presented results demonstrate that the interfacial property plays a critical role in the performance characteristics of the PCEHs. (paper)