MEMS-Based Energy Harvesting Devices: Overview of Recent Progress

Abstract

The “Internet of Things (IoT)” envisions a world scattered with physical sensors that collect and transmit data about almost anything and thereby enabling intelligent decision-making for a smart environment. While technological advancements have reduced the power consumption of such devices significantly, the problem of perpetual energy supply beyond the limited capability of batteries is a bottleneck to this vision which is yet to be resolved. This issue has surged the research to investigate the prospect of harvesting the energy out of ambient sources such as mechanical vibrations and motions. The development of high-performance mechanical energy harvesting at the micro- and nano-scale is challenging as it requires collaborative efforts and understanding from different domains of science and engineering including material synthesis, electromechanical device design, mathematical analysis, device fabrication and low-power electronics development to name a few. This chapter discusses the current state-of-the-art, ongoing fundamental and technical challenges and potential roadmaps for mechanical energy harvesting devices employing MEMS and nanotechnology. Particularly, we have identified the fundamental limitations, technological needs, and breakthroughs, including materials, process integration, and device design issues from the MEMS and nanotechnology perspective. Finally, different demonstrated applications of the described technology are mentioned, and further roadmap is provided for potential applications in the future within the IoT paradigm.