A Hybrid Piezoelectric and Reverse Electrowetting Energy Harvester for Wearable Biosensors

Abstract

Wearable biosensors play a critical role in healthcare monitoring. However, the reliance of biosensors on batteries has serious drawbacks. Although the human body’s energy can be converted into electricity with energy harvesters, the hybridisation of multiple energy harvesters is a prominent way of increasing power output. In this work, a hybrid piezoelectric and reverse electrowetting (REWOD) energy harvester is proposed. Its main working principle is based on the presence of an electrical double layer in the REWOD component and coupling with a piezoelectric nanogenerator via an electret. The proposed energy harvester design was tested numerically and in a series of experiments.

Keywords

• energy human harvesting
• reverse electrowetting on dielectric (REWOD)
• piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG)
• electrostatic microgenerator
• continuous monitoring biosensors
• wearable biosensors