Micro-scale energy harvesting devices: Review of methodological performances in the last decade

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.10.046Get rights and content

Abstract

Power harvesting devices which harness ambient surrounding energies to produce electricity could be a good solution for charging or powering electronic devices. The main advantages of such devices are that they are ecologically safe, portable, wireless, and cost effective and have smaller dimensions. Most of these power harvesting devices are realized by utilizing the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication techniques. In this paper, the capabilities and efficiencies of four micro-power harvesting methods including thermoelectric, thermo-photovoltaic, piezoelectric, and microbial fuel cell renewable power generators are thoroughly reviewed and reported. These methods are discussed in terms of their benefits and applications as well as their challenges and constraints. In addition, a methodological performance analysis for the decade from 2005 to 2014 are surveyed in order to discover the methods that delivered high output power for each device. Moreover, the outstanding breakthrough performances of each of the aforementioned micro-power generators within this period are highlighted. From the studies conducted, a maximum energy conversion of 2500 mW cm−2 is reached by thermoelectric modules. Meanwhile, thermo-photovoltaic devices achieved a rise in system efficiency of up to 10.9%. Piezoelectricity is potentially able to reach a volumetric power density of up to 10,000 mW cm−3. Significantly in microbial fuel cell systems, the highest power density obtained reached up to 6.86 W m−2. Consequently, the miniaturized energy harvesters are proven to have credibility for the performance of autonomous power generation.

Section snippets

Evolving technology of miniature power harvesters

Miniature power harvesting is the process of generating minute-scale electricity from external energy sources such as solar, thermal, wind, vibration, and chemical sources, human body heat, human movements, and so on. The main motivations for minute power harvesting devices are to add simplicity and ease in daily life, lower cost, and respect the nature of ecosystems. Besides, ambient energies and radiation can be a great solution as they are ecologically friendly and renewable. Also, in this

Positive prospects of micro-scale electricity harvesters

Micro-scale power harvesters such as thermoelectric, thermo-photovoltaic, piezoelectric, and microbial fuel cell are very useful for easy powering or charging of mobile electronics, even in remote areas, without the need for large power storage elements. Besides, such energy scavenging devices also encompass several extra benefits that may attract more attention to their systems viability as described in Fig. 1.

For instance, the thermoelectric generator utilizes unused, ambient, or human body

Challenges and constraints of minute-scale power generators

Currently, wireless on-chip scale electronics technology is more frequently demanded due to its smaller size, portability, and most importantly longevity. Thus the capabilities of such microelectronics devices, especially those with onboard power harvesting ability, are very convincing. However, the reliability of the devices is still uncertain. This is, of course, due to their complete dependency on adjacent natural energy supplies, whose presence has some limitations. For examples, solar

Analysis of energy conversion performances

The improvements and modifications made to power harvesting devices are the key points leading towards higher impact energy transduction mechanisms. The developed systems must have a strong energy conversion ability, which is usually known from the output power produced. In this section, competences achieved by each enhancement methodology for the miniature power harvesters are gathered and analyzed, contributing to a performance comparison for the decade of 2005–2014. Moreover, the highest

Remarkable breakthrough achievements

This study has investigated the optimized performances of four types of micro-scale energy harvesting devices: thermoelectric, thermo-photovoltaic, piezoelectric, and microbial fuel cell, during the last decade. The breakthrough achievements gained according to the previous section’s methodological performance analysis are indicated in Table 1. The materials or strategies applied and advantageous or key elements are listed in Table 1 in conjunction with their corresponding results.

According to

Conclusions and recommendations

The methodological performance analysis presented in this review indicates positive responses for all the four types of energy harvesting microdevices. They use reliable ambient energy sources and simple operating mechanisms, achieve faster energy transduction, having good life-times and embedding abilities, and are smaller in size. Substantively, the SnSe single crystal may be among the new viable thermoelectric materials due to its higher measured ZT value in comparison to Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3

Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the Flagship Research Grant from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Krishna Veni Selvan acknowledges financial support received from the Ministry of Education, Malaysia, under MyBRAIN15 scheme.

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