Artech House Micro and Nano Energy Harvesting Technologies

Seeking renewable and clean energies is essential for releasing the heavy reliance on mineral-based energy and remedying the threat of global warming to our environment. In the last decade, explosive growth in research and development efforts devoted to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology and nanowires-related nanotechnology have paved a great foundation for new mechanisms of harvesting mechanical energy at the micro/nano-meter scale. MEMS-based inertial sensors have been the enabler for numerous applications associated with smart phones, tablets, and mobile electronics. This is a valuable reference for all those faced with the challenging problems created by the ever-increasing interest in MEMS and nanotechnology-based energy harvesters and their applications. This book presents fundamental physics, theoretical design, and method of modeling for four mainstream energy harvesting mechanisms -- piezoelectric, electromagnetic, electrostatic, and triboelectric. Readers are provided with a comprehensive technical review and historical view of each mechanism. The authors also present current challenges in energy harvesting technology, technical reviews, design requirements, case studies, along with unique and representative examples of energy harvester applications. Contents: Piezoelectric MEMS Vibration Energy Harvesting; Electromagnetic MEMS Vibration Energy Harvesting; Electrostatic MEMS Vibration Energy Harvesting; Triboelectric Energy Harvesting; Strategies for High Performance Vibration Energy Harvesters; Microelectronic Circuits for Vibration Energy Harvesting; MEMS Acoustic Energy Harvesting; MEMS Wind-Driven Energy Harvesting; MEMS Thermal Energy Harvesting; Nano-Based Energy Harvesting; Applications.