A Battery‐Like Self‐Charge Universal Module for Motional Energy Harvest

Abstract

Wearable and portable electronics have brought great convenience. These battery‐powered commercial devices have a limited lifetime and require recharging, which makes more extensive applications challenging. Here, a battery‐like self‐charge universal module (SUM) is developed, which is able to efficiently convert mechanical energy into electrical energy and store it in one device. An integrated SUM consists of a power management unit and an energy harvesting unit. Compared to other mechanical energy harvesting devices, SUM is more ingenious, efficient and can be universally used as a battery. Under low frequency (5 Hz), a SUM can deliver an excellent normalized output power of 2 mW g−1. After carrying several SUMs and jogging for 10 min, a commercial global positioning system module is powered and works continuously for 0.5 h. SUMs can be easily assembled into different packages for powering various commercial electronics, demonstrating the great application prospects of SUM as a sustainable battery‐like device for wearable and portable electronics.

Biomechanical Energy‐Driven Hybridized Generator as a Universal Portable Power Source for Smart/Wearable Electronics

“…In the proposed EINR‐HG, the EMG generates a relatively lower load voltage and large output current due to its low internal resistance, whereas the TENGs generate large output voltage and small current at load due to their high internal resistance. When the EMG and TENGs units are operating simultaneously, a rectification circuit is employed for hybridization in order to avoid a large amount of internal power consumption . In this work, we utilized three bridge rectifier ICs (DF10S) to combine the electrical output of each generator.…”

“…These hybrid generators would be ideal for travelers in remote locations, rescue workers in disaster, and field engineers. There have been several works on hybridized generators, but the power generation of these harvesters is not enough to effectively power most of the modern smart and wearable electronics from vibrations induced by the movement of the human body . Therefore, advanced energy conversion materials with well‐designed mechanical systems are required to improve the output efficiency of portable energy harvesters to sustainably power portable/wearable devices in extreme situations.…”

A wearable noncontact free‐rotating hybrid nanogenerator for self‐powered electronics

“…In other words, the EMG contributes the most electrical energy in the process of turbulent charging, while the TENG mainly provides the energy of trickle charging. 47 The complementarity between the TENG and EMG improves the charging capacity of the hybrid generator. The charging capability of the WRG for the commercial lithium-ion battery (~3.4 mAh) has also been evaluated, which can be charged from 1.9 to 3.3 V in 2 minutes, as shown in Figure 3C.…”

Progress in wearable electronics/photonics—Moving toward the era of artificial intelligence and internet of things

“…In this case, power becomes a critical issue for a sustainable electronic system. Conventional batteries fail to meet the rising requirements of the energy storage units in wearable or implantable devices, hence various energy harvesting strategies are proposed to address the limitations of the bulky batteries 215,271‐279 . Solar energy as the cleanest and most abundant renewable energy source has been widely adopted by many self‐powered wearable systems.…”