Fabrication and performance of a donut-shaped generator based on dielectric elastomer

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) have been suggested as generators to harvest electrical energy from natural mechanical energy sources, such as human movements and ocean waves. In this study, a donut-shaped DE generator (DEG) has been fabricated and its performance is characterized depending on the stretch deformation. A simple new stretchable electrode system using multi-walled carbon nanotubes has been suggested. Measurements on the resistance, capacitance, and electrical power generation are made depending on the area expansion. The capacitance and harvested energy are parabolically increased with increased area expansions. The theoretical prediction of energy harvesting is in good agreement with measured values of capacitance changes with stretching. FE analysis is also applied for calculation of strains for the DEG to figure out the distribution of strains. It is suggested that the DEG has promising applications in the field of designing an energy harvesting device depending on the type of energy available.