Piezoelectric Actuators and Motors: Materials, Designs, and Applications

TLDR

Piezoelectric actuators convert electrical energy into precise mechanical outputs via piezoelectric coupling, offering compact size, flexible design, and nanometer‑scale positioning compared to electromagnetic actuators. This review examines challenges and future directions for piezoelectric actuators and motors across materials, designs, and applications. The authors survey recent advances in nonresonant and resonant piezoelectric actuators—including multilayer ceramics, step and inertial motors, ultrasonic motors, linear and rotary devices, multidegree‑of‑freedom and MEMS actuators—detailing their working principles, material choices, configurations, fabrication methods, and applications. The survey demonstrates that these diverse piezoelectric actuator types achieve precise, efficient motion control and highlights their material, design, and application characteristics, underscoring their suitability for advanced positioning and actuation tasks.

Abstract

Abstract Piezoelectric actuators are unique driving force‐generation devices, which can transfer input electric energy into force, displacement, or movement outputs efficiently and precisely via piezoelectric effect‐based electromechanical coupling instead of electromagnetic induction. In comparison with traditional electromagnetic actuators, the most important features of the piezoelectric actuators are their compact size, flexible design, and ability to provide nanometer or sub‐micrometer positioning. Here, recent progress in nonresonance piezoelectric actuators including multilayer ceramic actuators, step motors, inertial motors, and resonance ultrasonic motors, such as linear motors, rotary motors, multidegree of freedom motors, and microelectromechanical system actuators, is comprehensively presented. The working principles and properties of these actuators are explained, and the piezoelectric materials and configurations, fabrication, and applications are provided. Furthermore, from the aspects of materials, designs and applications, challenges and outlooks for future developments of piezoelectric actuators and motors are also discussed.