A Comparative Analysis among Balsa, Pine, and Gamari as a Potential Piezoelectric Material

Abu Bakkar; Chinmoy Deb Nath; Sajal Chandra Banik

doi:10.38032/scse.2026.4.63

Authors

Abu Bakkar Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology, Chattogram-4349, Bangladesh
Chinmoy Deb Nath 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology, Chattogram-4349, Bangladesh
Sajal Chandra Banik 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology, Chattogram-4349, Bangladesh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.38032/scse.2026.4.63

Keywords:

Piezoelectricity, cellulose, delignification, air gap, lignin

Abstract

The growing demand for sustainable energy has driven research into alternative materials capable of harvesting mechanical energy. Wood, a biodegradable and renewable resource, exhibits intrinsic piezoelectric properties due to its cellulose microfibrils and dipolar regions. This study investigates the piezoelectric performance of three wood species—Balsa, Pine, and Gamari—enhanced through a chemical delignification process using peracetic acid. The treatment removed 27.05% lignin from Balsa, 39.19% from Pine, and 10.46% from Gamari, while moisture content was reduced by 9.77%, 10.67%, and 10.47%, respectively. These structural changes improved compressibility and enhanced voltage response. Under a 1 kg load, treated Balsa generated up to 300.52 mV, significantly higher than its untreated counterpart (2.3 mV). Treated Pine and Gamari produced 254.56 mV and 149.55 mV, respectively, also showing considerable improvements. The results confirm that delignified wood can serve as an effective and eco-friendly material for energy harvesting. This work addresses a critical gap in current literature by comparing multiple wood species and offers promising insights into their application in self-powered sensors and sustainable building technologies.

Downloads

PDF

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] J. Curie and P. Curie, "“Development, via pressure, of electric polarization in dielectric crystals,”," Bulletin de la Société minéralogique de France, vol. 3, pp. 90-93, 1880. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/bulmi.1880.1564

[2] J. Sun, L. Zhu, Y. Liang, Z. Tian, H. Wang and L. Hu, "Sustainable and Biodegradable Wood Sponge Piezoelectric Nanogenerator for Sensing and Energy Harvesting Applications," ACS Nano, vol. 14, no. 11, p. 14665–14674, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c05493

[3] A. Tullus, M. Mandre and H. Tullus, "RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CELLULOSE, LIGNIN AND NUTRIENTS IN THE STEMWOOD OF HYBRID ASPEN IN ESTONIAN PLANTATIONS," vol. 44, no. 6, pp. 101-109, 2010.

[4] H. V. Scheller and P. Ulvskov, "Hemicelluloses," Annual Review of Plant Biology, vol. 61, no. 1, 2010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-arplant-042809-112315

[5] S. Y. Park, S. M. Cho and J. C. Kim, "Effects of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide concentration on kraft lignin degradation at room temperature," BioRes, vol. 14, pp. 4413-4429, 2019.

[6] I. E. Agency, "Electricity Market Report – March 2023," march 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-market-report-march-2023.

[7] Q. Dong, X. Song and H. Liu, "Effects of Air Cavity in Dynamic Pressure Sensors: Experimental Validation," Sensors (Switzerland), vol. 20, no. 6, p. 1759, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/s20061759

[8] M. Tiitta, V. Tiitta, M. Gaal, J. Heikkinen, R. Lappalainen and L. Tomppo, "Air-coupled ultrasound detection of natural defects in wood using ferroelectret and piezoelectric sensors," Wood Science and Technology, vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 1051-1064, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00226-020-01189-y

[9] M. H. Amiri and K. Asadi, "How Porosity Affects the Performance of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters and Sensors," Advanced Physics Research, vol. 2, no. 2, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/apxr.202200042

[10] Y. Deng, X. Fan, H. Luo, Y. Wang and K. Wu, "Impact of Air Gap Defects on the Electrical and Mechanical Properties of a 320 kV Direct Current Gas Insulated," Energies 2023, Vol. 16, Page 4006, vol. 16, no. 10, p. 4006, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/en16104006

[11] Plackner and Johannes, "THE CONVERSE PIEZOELECTRIC EFFECT IN WOOD AND CELLULOSE MATERIALS THE PIEZO-EFFECT IN WOOD AND CELLULOSE MATERIALS," Vienna, 2009.

[12] V. A. Bazhenov, "Piezoelectric properties of wood," 1963, pp. 235-235.

[13] J. Sun, H. Guo, G. N. Schädli and K. Tu, "Enhanced mechanical energy conversion with selectively decayed wood," Science Advances, vol. 7, no. 11, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd9138

[14] M. R. Sarker, S. Julai, M. F. M. Sabri, S. M. Said, M. M. Islam and M. Tahir, "Review of piezoelectric energy harvesting system and application of optimization techniques to enhance the performance of the harvesting system," Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, vol. 300, p. 111634, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sna.2019.111634

[15] D. Kumar, P. Chaturvedi and N. Jejurikar, "Piezoelectric energy harvester design and power conditioning," 2014 IEEE Students' Conference on Electrical, Electronics and Computer Science, SCEECS 2014, 2014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/SCEECS.2014.6804491

[16] J. C. T. Go, A. K. A. Remolino, J. M. P. Sanchez and K. E. Paz, "Harvesting Energy through Piezoelectric Tiles: A Comparative Study of Wood, Porcelain, and Ceramic Tiles," EDUCATUM Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology, vol. 10, pp. 1-6, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37134/ejsmt.vol10.1.1.2023

[17] E. Fukada and I. Yasuda, "On the Piezoelectric Effect of Bone," Journal of the Physical Society of Japan, vol. 12, no. 10, pp. 1158-1162, 1957. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1143/JPSJ.12.1158

[18] S. K. Karan, S. Maiti, O. Kwon, S. Paria, A. Maitra, S. K. Si, Y. Kim and J. K. Kim, "Nature driven spider silk as high energy conversion efficient bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator," Nano Energy, vol. 49, pp. 655-666, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2018.05.014

[19] S. K. Ghosh and D. Mandal, "High-performance bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator made with fish scale," Applied Physics Letters, vol. 109, no. 10, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4961623

[20] S. K. Ghosh and D. Mandal, "Efficient natural piezoelectric nanogenerator: Electricity generation from fish swim bladder," Nano Energy, vol. 28, pp. 356-365, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.08.030

[21] S. Y. Park, S. M. Cho, J. C. Kim, C. Hong, G. H. Ryu, G. H. Ryu and I. G. Choi, "Effects of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide concentration on kraft lignin degradation at room temperature," BioResources, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 4413-4429, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15376/biores.14.2.4413-4429

[22] C. Yang, S. Song, F. Chen and N. Chen, "Fabrication of PVDF/BaTiO3/CNT Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters with Bionic Balsa Wood Structures through 3D Printing and Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Foaming," ACS publication, vol. 13, no. 35, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c11843

[23] Y. T. Team, "Understanding piezoelectric constants d33, k, Qm explained," 2023. [Online]. Available: https://yujiepiezo.com/blog/understanding-piezoelectric-constants-d33-k-qm-explained. [Accessed 10 October 2025].

[24] Q. Guo, G. Z. Cao and I. Y. Shen, "Measurements of Piezoelectric Coefficient d33 of Lead Zirconate Titanate Thin Films Using a Mini Force Hammer," Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, vol. 135, no. 1, 1 February 2013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4006881

[25] . K. G. Rosas, A. Azari and C. Soldano, "Carboxymethyl Cellulose as a Sustainable Dielectric Material for Organic Field-Effect Transistors," ACS Applied Electronic Materials 7 (3),, vol. 7, no. 3, p. 1277, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.4c02227

[26] Y. Ren, F. Liu and Y. Zhong, "Top-Down Fabricated Wood-Derived Pressure and Strain Sensors: A Review.," Advanced Science, p. 15 of 37, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202507712

[27] J. Garemark, M. Ritter, C. Dreimol, R. L. Laranjeira, R. Kürsteiner, D. V. Glaser, A. Parrilli, . F. Ram, C. Oberschelp, I. Efe, T. Pettersson, M. Trassin, G. Panzarasa and . I. Burgert, "Salt-In-Wood Piezoelectric Power Generators with Circular Materials Design for High-Performance Sustainable Energy Harvesting," Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 35, p. 2418454, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202418454