Introducing a new concept for enhanced micro-energy harvesting of thermal fluctuations through the Marangoni effect

Oxygen separation diffusion-bubbling membranes

“…In particular, tangential capillary forces arising because of the surface tension gradient can involve the near-interface layers of the liquid in motion, thereby initiating convective flow (so-called surface tension gradient-induced Marangoni convection 74 ). The surface tension gradient may be due to both temperature gradient (thermocapillary convection [75][76][77][78][79] ) and concentration gradient (solutocapillary convection [80][81][82] ). Because the DBM operates under an oxygen partial pressure difference, an oxygen concentration gradient exists continuously in the membrane.…”

A self-powered tunable unipolar synchronized electric charge extraction interface circuit for piezoelectric energy harvesting

“…With the continuous progress of microelectronics technology, the power consumption of microelectronic devices and systems has become lower and lower. It is considered possible to harvest energy from the environment and use it to replace batteries to power lowconsumption autonomous systems (Madruga and Mendoza, 2022;Narducci and Lorenzi, 2016;Shi et al, 2021;Zhou and Zuo, 2015). The piezoelectric energy harvesting (PEH) technique has the advantages of simple structure, easy miniaturization, integration, etc., and has gradually become one of the main technologies developed for environmental vibration energy extraction (Silva and De Marqui, 2017;Wu et al, 2018Wu et al, , 2022Xia et al, 2019).…”

On Mechanical and Electrical Coupling Determination at Piezoelectric Harvester by Customized Algorithm Modeling and Measurable Properties

“…Energy harvesting is defined as the ability of smart materials to scavenge energy losses from sources operating in the surrounding environment for later use [7]. Those sources come from ambient environmental sources like thermal or temperature changes, gaseous or liquid flow fluctuations [8], electromagnetic radiations [9], chemical or physiological reactions [10], vibrational or acceleration movements, mechanical strain, or radiofrequency, among others [11]. The link between these sources and electrical power conversion are the smart materials, thermoelectric for thermal conversion, piezoelectric for mechanical, vibrational or movement, where the electromagnetic devices that can also scavenge environmental energy, photovoltaic for luminous emissions or triboelectric to harvest the electrostatic force, are the most relevant families of smart materials in the energy harvesting framework.…”

“…The interlaminar layer has mechanical and electrical functions, the last one depending on the desired electrical configuration, and it can be designed from several types of materials, from metallic to composites, among others. The bimorph or the multilayer harvester show higher energy density compared with a single piezoelectric unit when compared in the same vibrational states [7][8][9]. In general, research efforts to maximize energy scavenging of the harvester designs have been focused on the dimensional modification of the piezoelectric beam or the modification of their natural frequency by external mass additions.…”