Herein, the one-step fabrication of novel three-dimensional sponge-like piezoelectric electrospun nanofiber structures is reported. Ferroelectric polymers are biocompatible and flexible materials that present attractive opportunities for portable energy harvesters efficient wearable electronic devices. While being compatible with diverse methods, thicker denser 3D forms have only been obtained ...

This paper describes an approach for harvesting electrical energy from mechanical vibrations with a low-cost piezoelectric element operating at low amplitude vibration (a < 2m/s or voltage generated < 300mV). The converter consists of an ordinary piezoelectric buzzer and a steel ball bonded onto it. Furthermore, the design of the CMOS AC-DC based on the voltage multiplier and for which simulati...

The ability of certain materials to convert electrical stimuli into mechanical deformation, and vice versa, is a prized property. Not surprisingly, applications of such so-called piezoelectric materials are broad—ranging from energy harvesting to self-powered sensors. In this perspective, written in the form of question-answers, we highlight a relatively understudied electromechanical coupling ...

Rainbow trapping is a phenomenon that enables vibration confinement due to the gradual variation of wave velocity in space, which typically achieved by means locally resonant unit cells. In context electromechanical metastructures for energy harvesting, this strategy employed improve mechanical-to-electrical conversion and thereby maximize harvested power. contrast structures endowed with eithe...

Mechanization of cotton harvesting began in earnest in the Soviet Union in 1958 and was expected to proceed more rapidly than the market-driven process which had begun in the USA a decade earlier. Despite high output of cotton-picking machines, the share of the crop harvested mechanically grew more slowly than in the USA. Mechanical picking was resisted at the farm level on the basis of distort...

This paper aims at providing an up-to-date review of nonlinear electronic interfaces for energy harvesting from mechanical vibrations using piezoelectric coupling. The basic principles and the direct application to energy harvesting of nonlinear treatment of the output voltage of the transducers for conversion enhancement will be recalled, and extensions of this approach presented. Latest advan...

Ambient mechanical vibrations have emerged as a viable energy source for low-power wireless sensor nodes aiming the upcoming era of the 'Internet of Things'. Recently, purposefully induced dynamical nonlinearities have been exploited to widen the frequency spectrum of vibration energy harvesters. Here we investigate some critical inconsistencies between the theoretical formulation and applicati...