DEVELOPMENT OF ENERGY HARVESTING TECHNOLOGIES WITH WIDE APPLICATIONS - RANGING FROM WEARABLE TO IMPLANTABLE DEVICES

Abstract

Diversified energy harvesting technologies and devices have developed rapidly in the past few years, providing great potential to enable self-sustainable wearable and implantable systems. In this thesis, novel energy harvesters and self-powered sensors are developed for implantable and wearable applications. First, a biocompatible ZnO nanowire based energy harvester and ZnO nanowire coated neural electrode are developed for implantable energy harvesting and stimulation. To overcome the uncertainty and restriction of implanted environment, an implantable PZT diaphragm based energy harvester is exploited using acoustic energy delivery. To enable convenient energy harvesting and monitoring without the involvement of surgical procedures, a triboelectric based wearable microfluidic sensor is developed for pressure sensing and finger motion monitoring. For multi-directional wearable energy harvesting and sensing, ball-shaped triboelectric devices are developed. In summary, the developed energy harvesters and self-powered sensors provide great potentials to eventually realize self-powered implantable and wearable systems.