Abstract
Energy autonomy is key to the next generation portable and wearable systems for several applications. Among these, the electronic-skin or e-skin is currently a matter of intensive investigations due to its wider applicability in areas, ranging from robotics to digital health, fashion and internet of things (IoT). The high density of multiple types of electronic components (e.g. sensors, actuators, electronics, etc.) required in e-skin, and the need to power them without adding heavy batteries, have fuelled the development of compact flexible energy systems to realize self-powered or energy-autonomous e-skin. The compact and wearable energy systems consisting of energy harvesters, energy storage devices, low-power electronics and efficient/wireless power transfer-based technologies, are expected to revolutionize the market for wearable systems and in particular for e-skin. This paper reviews the development in the field of self-powered e-skin, particularly focussing on the available energy-harvesting technologies, high capacity energy storage devices, and high efficiency power transmission systems. The paper highlights the key challenges, critical design strategies, and most promising materials for the development of an energy-autonomous e-skin for robotics, prosthetics and wearable systems. This paper will complement other reviews on e-skin, which have focussed on the type of sensors and electronics components.
Highlights
This review analyses the most promising energy harvesting and storage technologies to highlight the development of a compact energy system for energy-autonomous e-skin
The in-depth discussion on various energy sources and storage methods, as well as, energy transfer through wireless technologies, highlights suitable options for continuous operation of multiple electronic devices and sensors distributed along the eskin
As explained in this review, the use of hybrid energy systems made from the combination of two or more energy-harvesting mechanisms, will result in a new advanced technology capable to work continuously with stability, even during the short absence of some of energy sources
Summary
The e-skin require integration of large number of sensing/electronic components on flexible and conformal surfaces,[11,17] as evident from the growing trend of high density of sensors in medical patches,[9,18–24] active-matrix for touch screens[25] and tactile sensitive artificial skins for robots/prosthesis.[1,8]. This leads to a higher demand of energy, requiring energy harvesting/storage devices with high energy densities and capacities. A self-powered e-skin, called here as energy-autonomous e-skin, can harvest sufficient energy from the ambient to power all its sensors and electronic components, and storing the excess of energy for future use In this scenario, e-skin could have continuous and stable operation, even during short absence of energy sources. There are already some examples of continuous powering of e-skin,[38] the latest progress reported on
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