Giacomo Clementi, grand prize i-PhD

For his work on Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3), which has led to the design of original and efficient devices for the recovery of vibratory energy by the piezoelectric effect, in particular for connected objects.

What looks like alchemy was demonstrated by Giacomo Clementi as part of his thesis (European MSCA-ITN ENHANCE project coordinated by Ausrine Bartasyte at UBFC, with EPFL, INSA Lyon and STMicroelectronics as a partner). His research subject concerned a study of the material lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) to design original and efficient devices for harvesting of vibratory energy by piezoelectric effect to power connected objects. His thesis work, co-supervised by Samuel Margueron, continues today at FEMTO-ST as part of the post-doctoral program "Entrepreneur Researcher Route" funded by the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.

The idea was simple: turn the equations of piezoelectricity, rub, adapt the impedance, cut into small pieces, put a hint of metal and shake: what we thought not possible has been confirmed, the figure of merit of the LiNbO3 has been shown to be superior to conventional piezoelectric, while freeing itself from the polluting lead which is always present today in such materials.

 “The paradigm shift is umongous” describes Giacomo, “when Europe pursues a moratorium on the ban of lead based materials, we have shown that the flagship material of the FEMTO-ST institute in optics and micro-acoustics, LiNbO₃, can also supplant other piezoelectric in micro-energy harvesting for the Internet of Things market (Internet of Things, or IoT). This i-PhD award, accompanied by SATT SAYENS and the new piezoMEMS team from the Time-Frequency department of FEMTO-ST, is an important national recognition and an opportunity to meet partners to move on the creation of a start-up in the grown market of IoT, wireless or without batteries, while being compliant with European REACH and RoHS regulations. It is also an opportunity to thank and highlight the support of the EIPHI Graduate School at University Bourgogne Franche-Comté (UBFC) within the framework of the M3 challenge, the ENSMM for having supported our action within the framework of a BQR and the competence of the personnel of the MIMENTO and MIFHySTO facilities and the FEMTO-engineering R&D center at FEMTO-ST."

Contact : Giacomo CLEMENTI

Grand prize i-PhD 2021 Bpifrance, delivered on, july 8 2021

Prize for the best oral presentation at the 10th National Conference on Energy Recovery and Storage June 3, 2021 in Grenoble.

Références :

Giacomo Clementi, Merieme Ouhabaz, Samuel Margueron, Miguel Angel Suarez, Florent Bassignot, Ludovic Gauthier-Manuel, Djaffar Belharet, Bernard Dulmet, and Ausrine Bartasyte, Highly coupled and low frequency vibrational energy harvester using lithium niobate on silicon, Appl. Phys. Lett. 119, 013904 (2021);

Giacomo Clementi, Giulia Lombardi, Samuel Margueron, Miguel Angel Suarez, Eric Lebrasseur, Sylvain Ballandras, Joel Imbaud, Franck Lardet-Vieudrin, Ludovic Gauthier-Manuel, Bernard Dulmet, Mickaël Lallart et Ausrine Bartasyte, LiNbO3 films – A low-cost alternative lead-free piezoelectric material for vibrational energy harvesters, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 149(12):107171 (2021)

Patent EP20203952 (26 octobre 2020) Ausrine Bartasyte, Samuel Margueron, Ludovic Gauthier-Manuel, Giacomo Clementi, Merieme Ouhabaz, Florian Bassignot Piezoelectric device comprising flexible single crystalline piezoelectric LiNbO3 and/or LiTaO3 films integrated on flexible substrate and methods for producing the same.

Funding : MSCA-ITN ENHANCE https://www.itn-enhance.com/, MSCA-RISE ReActiveToo https://reactivetoo.org/ et FIESTA ANR-20-CE05-0026