Highly Flexible Graphene-Film-Based Rectenna for Wireless Energy Harvesting

Herein,we report the design,fabrication,and performance of two wireless energy harvesting devices based on highly flexible graphene macroscopic films(FGMFs).We first demonstrate that benefiting from the high conductivity of up to 1×10^(6)S m^(-1)and good resistive stability of FGMFs even under extensive bending,the FGMFs-based rectifying circuit(GRC)exhibits good flexibility and RF-to-DC efficiency of 53%at 2.1 GHz.Moreover,we further expand the application of FGMFs to a flexible wideband monopole rectenna and a 2.45 GHz wearable rectenna for harvesting wireless energy.The wideband rectenna at various bending conditions produces a maximum conversion efficiency of 52%,46%,and 44%at the 5th Generation(5G)2.1 GHz,Industrial Long-Term Evolution(LTE)2.3 GHz,and Scientific Medical(ISM)2.45 GHz,respectively.A 2.45 GHz GRC is optimized and integrated with an AMC-backed wearable antenna.The proposed 2.45 GHz wearable rectenna shows a maximum conversion efficiency of 55.7%.All the results indicate that the highly flexible graphene-film-based rectennas have great potential as a wireless power supplier for smart Internet of Things(loT)applications.

Deployment optimization for target perpetual coverage in energy harvesting wireless sensor network

Energy limitation of traditional Wireless Sensor Networks(WSNs)greatly confines the network lifetime due to generating and processing massive sensing data with a limited battery.The energy harvesting WSN is a novel network architecture to address the limitation of traditional WSN.However,existing coverage and deployment schemes neglect the environmental correlation of sensor nodes and external energy with respect to physical space.Comprehensively considering the spatial correlation of the environment and the uneven distribution of energy in energy harvesting WSN,we investigate how to deploy a collection of sensor nodes to save the deployment cost while ensuring the target perpetual coverage.The Confident Information Coverage(CIC)model is adopted to formulate the CIC Minimum Deployment Cost Target Perpetual Coverage(CICMTP)problem to minimize the deployed sensor nodes.As the CICMTP is NP-hard,we devise two approximation algorithms named Local Greedy Threshold Algorithm based on CIC(LGTA-CIC)and Overall Greedy Search Algorithm based on CIC(OGSA-CIC).The LGTA-CIC has a low time complexity and the OGSA-CIC has a better approximation rate.Extensive simulation results demonstrate that the OGSA-CIC is able to achieve lower deployment cost and the performance of the proposed algorithms outperforms GRNP,TPNP and EENP algorithms.

Advances in Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Blue Energy Harvesting and Marine Environmental Monitoring

Blue energy,which includes rainfall,tidal current,wave,and water-flow energy,is a promising renewable resource,although its exploitation is limited by current technologies and thus remains low.This form of energy is mainly harvested by electromagnetic generators(EMGs),which generate electricity via Lorenz force-driven electron flows.Triboelectric nano genera tors(TENGs)and TENG networks exhibit superiority over EMGs in low-frequency and high-entropy energy harvesting as a new approach for blue energy harvesting.A TENG produces electrical outputs by adopting the mechanism of Maxwell’s displacement current.To date,a series of research efforts have been made to optimize the structure and performance of TENGs for effective blue energy harvesting and marine environmental applications.Despite the great progress that has been achieved in the use of TENGs in this context so far,continuous exploration is required in energy conversion,device durability,power management,and environmental applications.This review reports on advances in TENGs for blue energy harvesting and marine environmental monitoring.It introduces the theoretical foundations of TENGs and discusses advanced TENG prototypes for blue energy harvesting,including TENG structures that function in freestanding and contact-separation modes.Performance enhancement strategies for TENGs intended for blue energy harvesting are also summarized.Finally,marine environmental applications of TENGs based on blue energy harvesting are discussed.

Energy Harvesting in the Wake of An Inverted C-Shaped Bluff Body

This paper proposes a novel wake-induced vibration(WIV)-based energy harvesting system consisting of two bluff bodies.An inverted C-shaped bluff body is stationary installed at the upstream position to generate an interference wake street,and a cylinder bluff body equipped with a transducer is elastically suspended at the downstream position to harness WIV energy.The hydrodynamics and energy harvesting(EH)performance of the proposed system are investigated via experimental studies.The reduced velocity(U*)ranging from 2 to 14(the corresponding Reynolds number ranging from 15100 to 106200)is considered in the present study.It is found that the wake generated by the inverted C-shaped bluff body significantly affects the EH performance.Enlarging the opening angle(α)of the C-shaped bluff body increases the vibration amplitude of the downstream cylinder,thereby increasing the harvested power.When the spacing(L)between two bluff bodies is two times the cylinder diameter(D),the wake-induced vibration(WIV)mode is observed,while the combined WIV and wake galloping(WG)mode occurs whenαis 150°,and L equals 3D or 4D.The average drag coefficient becomes negative when L is 2D,3D,or 4D.By carefully configuring a C-shaped bluff body,the wake generated by it can bring an augmenting effect on the vibration of the downstream EH cylinder.For example,the RMS power output of the proposed EH system reaches a maximum of 0.31 W at U*=8 and L=4D,which is 300%greater than that of its traditional counterpart.Furthermore,after a number of case stud-ies,it is identified that the proposed EH system can achieve the best performance whenαis 150°and L=2D.

Review of the Tuned Mass Damper Inerter(TMDI)in Energy Harvesting and Vibration Control:Designs,Analysis and Applications

Tuned mass damper inerter(TMDI)is a device that couples traditional tuned mass dampers(TMD)with an inertial device.The inertial device produces resistance proportional to the relative acceleration at its two ends through its“inertial”constant.Due to its unique mechanical properties,TMDI has received widespread attention and application in the past twenty years.As different configurations are required in different practical situations,TMDI is still active in the research on vibration control and energy harvesting in structures.This paper provides a comprehensive review of the research status of TMDI.This work first examines the generation and important vibration control characteristics of TMDI.Then,the energy harvesting performance of electromagnetic tuned mass damper inerter(EM-TMDI)is discussed.This work emphasizes the formation of a passive dynamic vibration absorber by coupling traditional TMD with inertial devices.This paper also summarizes the design and implementation of optimal vibration control and energy harvesting for TMDI.Furthermore,this paper details the applications of TMDI in the fields of bridges and building engineering.Finally,this paper summarizes the necessity of research on tuned mass-damper-inertia,the challenges faced currently,and future research directions,such as control of parameters in electromagnetic energy harvesting TMDI systems and low-cost TMDI.

Dynamic analysis of a novel multilink-spring mechanism for vibration isolation and energy harvesting

Due to technical limitations,existing vibration isolation and energy harvesting(VIEH)devices have poor performance at low frequency.This paper proposes a new multilink-spring mechanism(MLSM)that can be used to solve this problem.The VIEH performance of the MLSM under harmonic excitation and Gaussian white noise was analyzed.It was found that the MLSM has good vibration isolation performance for low-frequency isolation and the frequency band can be widened by adjusting parameters to achieve a higher energy harvesting power.By comparison with two special cases,the results show that the MLSM is basically the same as the other two oscillators in terms of vibration isolation but has better energy harvesting performance under multistable characteristics.The MLSM is expected to reduce the impact of vibration on high-precision sensitive equipment in some special sites such as subways and mines,and at the same time supply power to structural health monitoring devices.

A viscoelastic metamaterial beam for integrated vibration isolation and energy harvesting

Locally resonant metamaterials have low-frequency band gaps and the capability of converging vibratory energy in the band gaps at resonant cells.It has been demonstrated by several researchers that the dissipatioin of vibratory energy within the band gap can be improved by using viscoelastic materials.This paper designs an integrated viscoelastic metamaterial for energy harvesting and vibration isolation.The viscoelastic metamaterial is achieved by a viscoelastic beam periodically arrayed with spatial ball-pendulum nonlinear energy harvesters.The nonlinear resonator with an energy harvesting function is achieved by placing a free-rolling magnetic ball in a spherical cavity with an additional induction coil.The dynamic equations of viscoelastic metamaterials under transverse excitation are established,and the energy harvesting and vibration isolation characteristics within the dispersion relation of viscoelastic metamaterials are analyzed.The results show that the vibrations of the main body of the viscoelastic metamaterial beam are significantly suppressed in the frequency range of the local resonance band gap.At the same time,the elastic waves are limited in the nonlinear resonator with an energy harvesting function,which improves the energy output.Finally,an experimental platform of viscoelastic metamaterial vibration is established for validation purposes.

On the role of sliding friction effect in nonlinear tri-hybrid vibration-based energy harvesting

This work aims to develop an experimental investigation into the effectiveness of the sliding-mode approach for hybrid vibration-based energy harvesting.A proposed sliding-mode triboelectric-electromagnetic-piezoelectric energy harvesting model involves a cantilever beam with a tip mass exposed to magnetic and frictional forces.The experimental findings indicate that the system can achieve its peak inter-well oscillation output within a low-frequency range of 4 Hz–6 Hz.Friction has a lesser impact on the open-circuit voltage output at an excitation acceleration of 1.5g compared with 1g.The distribution of tri-stability changes with the presence of friction.This model provides a deeper understanding of the influence of the dry friction coefficient(0.2–0.5) on the interactive behaviors of different generator units.

Energy harvesting and speed sensing with a hybrid rotary generator for self-powered wireless monitoring

Real-time onboard health monitoring systems are critical for the railway industry to maintain high service quality and operational safety.However,the issue with power supplies for monitoring sensors persists,especially for freight trains that lack onboard power.Here,we propose a hybrid piezoelectric-triboelectric rotary generator(HPT-RG)for energy harvesting and vehicle speed sensing.The HPT-RG incorporates a rotational self-adaptive technique that softens the equivalent stiffness,enabling the piezoelectric non-resonant beam to surpass resonance limitations in a low-frequency region.The experiments demonstrate the feasibility of using the HPT-RG as an energy harvesting module to collect the rotational energy of the freight rail transport and power the wireless temperature sensors.To allow multiple monitoring in confined spaces on trains,a triboelectric sensing module is added to the HPT-RG to sense the operation speed and mileage of vehicles.Furthermore,the generator exhibits favorable mechanical durability under more than 600 h of official testing on the train bogie axle.The proposed HPT-RG is essential for creating a truly self-powered,maintenance-free,and zero-carbon onboard wireless monitoring system on freight railways.

Harvesting Energy Via Water Movement and Surface Ionics in Microfibrous Ceramic Wools

Due to the push for carbon neutrality in various human activities,the development of methods for producing electricity without relying on chemical reaction processes or heat sources has become highly significant.Also,the challenge lies in achieving microwatt-scale outputs due to the inherent conductivity of the materials and diverting electric currents.To address this challenge,our research has concentrated on utilizing nonconductive mediums for water-based low-cost microfibrous ceramic wools in conjunction with a NaCl aqueous solution for power generation.The main source of electricity originates from the directed movement of water molecules and surface ions through densely packed microfibrous ceramic wools due to the effect of dynamic electric double layer.This occurrence bears resemblance to the natural water transpiration in plants,thereby presenting a fresh and straightforward approach for producing electricity in an ecofriendly manner.The generator module demonstrated in this study,measuring 12×6 cm^(2),exhibited a noteworthy open-circuit voltage of 0.35 V,coupled with a short-circuit current of 0.51 mA.Such low-cost ceramic wools are suitable for ubiquitous,permanent energy sources and hold potential for use as self-powered sensors and systems,eliminating the requirement for external energy sources such as sunlight or heat.

A triboelectric nanogenerator based on a spiral rotating shaft for efficient marine energy harvesting of the hydrostatic pressure differential

Equipment used in underwater sensing and exploration typically relies on cables or batteries for energy supply,resulting in a limited and inconvenient energy supply and marine environmental pollution that hinder the sustainable development of distributed ocean sensing networks.Here,we design a deep-sea differential-pressure triboelectric nanogenerator(DP-TENG)based on a spiral shaft drive using modified polymer materials to harness the hydrostatic pressure gradient energy at varying ocean depths to power underwater equipment.The spiral shaft structure converts a single compression into multiple rotations of the TENG rotor,achieving efficient conversion of differential pressure energy.The multi-pair electrode design enables the DP-TENG to generate a peak current of 61.7μA,the instantaneous current density can reach 0.69μA cm^(-2),and the output performance can be improved by optimizing the spiral angle of the shaft.The DP-TENG can charge a 33μF capacitor to 17.5 V within five working cycles.It can also power a digital calculator and light up 116 commercial power light-emitting diodes,demonstrating excellent output capability.With its simple structure,low production cost,and small form factor,the DP-TENG can be seamlessly integrated with underwater vehicles.The results hold broad prospects for underwater blue energy harvesting and are expected to contribute to the development of self-powered equipment toward emerging“smart ocean”and blue economy applications.

Unlocking multidirectional and broadband wind energy harvesting with triboelectric nanogenerator and vortex-induced vibration of sphere

A unique oscillating wind-driven triboelectric nanogenerator(OWTENG)based on the sphere's vortex-induced vibration(VIV)behavior is proposed in this study,which can harvest wind energy across a multitude of horizontal directions.With the Euler-Lagrange method,the coupled governing equations of the OWTENG are established and subsequently validated by experimental tests.The vibrational properties and output performance of the OWTENG for varying wind speeds are analyzed,demonstrating its effectiveness in capturing wind energy across a broad range of wind speeds(from 2.20 m/s to 8.84 m/s),and the OWTENG achieves its peak output power of 106.3μW at a wind speed of 5.72 m/s.Furthermore,the OWTENG maintains a steady output power across various wind directions within the speed range of 2.20 m/s to 7.63 m/s.Nevertheless,when the wind speed exceeds 7.63 m/s,the vibrational characteristics of the sphere shift based on the wind direction,leading to fluctuations in the OWTENG's output power.This research presents an innovative approach for designing vibrational triboelectric nanogenerators,offering valuable insights into harvesting wind energy from diverse directions and speeds.

Performance Analysis and Optimization of Energy Harvesting Modulation for Multi-User Integrated Data and Energy Transfer

Integrated data and energy transfer(IDET)enables the electromagnetic waves to transmit wireless energy at the same time of data delivery for lowpower devices.In this paper,an energy harvesting modulation(EHM)assisted multi-user IDET system is studied,where all the received signals at the users are exploited for energy harvesting without the degradation of wireless data transfer(WDT)performance.The joint IDET performance is then analysed theoretically by conceiving a practical time-dependent wireless channel.With the aid of the AO based algorithm,the average effective data rate among users are maximized by ensuring the BER and the wireless energy transfer(WET)performance.Simulation results validate and evaluate the IDET performance of the EHM assisted system,which also demonstrates that the optimal number of user clusters and IDET time slots should be allocated,in order to improve the WET and WDT performance.

Outage Analysis of Optimal UAV Cooperation with IRS via Energy Harvesting Enhancement Assisted Computational Offloading

The utilization of mobile edge computing(MEC)for unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)communication presents a viable solution for achieving high reliability and low latency communication.This study explores the potential of employing intelligent reflective surfaces(IRS)andUAVs as relay nodes to efficiently offload user computing tasks to theMEC server system model.Specifically,the user node accesses the primary user spectrum,while adhering to the constraint of satisfying the primary user peak interference power.Furthermore,the UAV acquires energy without interrupting the primary user’s regular communication by employing two energy harvesting schemes,namely time switching(TS)and power splitting(PS).The selection of the optimal UAV is based on the maximization of the instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio.Subsequently,the analytical expression for the outage probability of the system in Rayleigh channels is derived and analyzed.The study investigates the impact of various system parameters,including the number of UAVs,peak interference power,TS,and PS factors,on the system’s outage performance through simulation.The proposed system is also compared to two conventional benchmark schemes:the optimal UAV link transmission and the IRS link transmission.The simulation results validate the theoretical derivation and demonstrate the superiority of the proposed scheme over the benchmark schemes.

Radio resource management in energy harvesting cooperative cognitive UAV assisted IoT networks:A multi-objective approach

Cooperative communication through energy harvested relays in Cognitive Internet of Things(CIoT)has been envisioned as a promising solution to support massive connectivity of Cognitive Radio(CR)based IoT devices and to achieve maximal energy and spectral efficiency in upcoming wireless systems.In this work,a cooperative CIoT system is contemplated,in which a source acts as a satellite,communicating with multiple CIoT devices over numerous relays.Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs)are used as relays,which are equipped with onboard Energy Harvesting(EH)facility.We adopted a Power Splitting(PS)method for EH at relays,which are harvested from the Radio frequency(RF)signals.In conjunction with this,the Decode and Forward(DF)relaying strategy is used at UAV relays to transmit the messages from the satellite source to the CIoT devices.We developed a Multi-Objective Optimization(MOO)framework for joint optimization of source power allocation,CIoT device selection,UAV relay assignment,and PS ratio determination.We formulated three objectives:maximizing the sum rate and the number of admitted CIoT in the network and minimizing the carbon dioxide emission.The MOO formulation is a Mixed-Integer Non-Linear Programming(MINLP)problem,which is challenging to solve.To address the joint optimization problem for an epsilon optimal solution,an Outer Approximation Algorithm(OAA)is proposed with reduced complexity.The simulation results show that the proposed OAA is superior in terms of CIoT device selection and network utility maximization when compared to those obtained using the Nonlinear Optimization with Mesh Adaptive Direct-search(NOMAD)algorithm.

Security-Reliability Analysis and Optimization for Cognitive Two-Way Relay Network with Energy Harvesting

This paper investigates the security and reliability of information transmission within an underlay wiretap energy harvesting cognitive two-way relay network.In the network,energy-constrained secondary network(SN)nodes harvest energy from radio frequency signals of a multi-antenna power beacon.Two SN sources exchange their messages via a SN decode-and-forward relay in the presence of a multiantenna eavesdropper by using a four-phase time division broadcast protocol,and the hardware impairments of SN nodes and eavesdropper are modeled.To alleviate eavesdropping attacks,the artificial noise is applied by SN nodes.The physical layer security performance of SN is analyzed and evaluated by the exact closed-form expressions of outage probability(OP),intercept probability(IP),and OP+IP over quasistatic Rayleigh fading channel.Additionally,due to the complexity of OP+IP expression,a self-adaptive chaotic quantum particle swarm optimization-based resource allocation algorithm is proposed to jointly optimize energy harvesting ratio and power allocation factor,which can achieve security-reliability tradeoff for SN.Extensive simulations demonstrate the correctness of theoretical analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed optimization algorithm.

Effect of Nanostructures Addition and Enhancement of Poly (Vinylidene Difluoride) (PVDF) Energy Harvesting

With concerns in energy crisis and global warming, researchers are actively investigating alternative energy renewable solutions. Among the various methods, piezoelectric transduction stands out due to its impressive electromechanical coupling factor and coefficient. As a result, piezoelectric energy harvesting has garnered significant attention from the scientific community. In this study, we explored methods to enhance the piezoelectric properties of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) through two distinct approaches. The first approach involved applying external high voltages at various stages during the mixture reaction. The goal was to determine whether this voltage application could alter or enhance PVDF’s piezoelectric conformation by improving the alignment of polarized dipoles. In the second part of our study, we investigated the effects of incorporating various nanostructures (including Iron Oxide, Magnesium Oxide, and Zinc Oxide) into PVDF. To analyze changes in PVDF’s crystalline structure, we utilized Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) techniques. Additionally, we measured the electric polarization of samples using a Precision LC Meter and examined the morphology of nanofibers through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).

A viscoelastic nonlinear energy sink with an electromagnetic energy harvester:Narrow-band random response

Nonlinear energy sink is a passive energy absorption device that surpasses linear dampers, and has gained significant attention in various fields of vibration suppression. This is owing to its capacity to offer high vibration attenuation and robustness across a wide frequency spectrum. Energy harvester is a device employed to convert kinetic energy into usable electric energy. In this paper, we propose an electromagnetic energy harvester enhanced viscoelastic nonlinear energy sink(VNES) to achieve passive vibration suppression and energy harvesting simultaneously. A critical departure from prior studies is the investigation of the stochastic P-bifurcation of the electromechanically coupled VNES system under narrowband random excitation. Initially, approximate analytical solutions are derived using a combination of a multiple-scale method and a perturbation approach. The substantial agreement between theoretical analysis solutions and numerical solutions obtained from Monte Carlo simulation underscores the method's high degree of validity. Furthermore, the effects of system parameters on system responses are carefully examined. Additionally, we demonstrate that stochastic P-bifurcation can be induced by system parameters, which is further verified by the steady-state density functions of displacement. Lastly,we analyze the impacts of various parameters on the mean square current and the mean output power, which are crucial for selecting suitable parameters to enhance the energy harvesting performance.

Performance enhancement of a viscoelastic bistable energy harvester using time-delayed feedback control

This paper focuses on the stochastic analysis of a viscoelastic bistable energy harvesting system under colored noise and harmonic excitation, and adopts the time-delayed feedback control to improve its harvesting efficiency. Firstly, to obtain the dimensionless governing equation of the system, the original bistable system is approximated as a system without viscoelastic term by using the stochastic averaging method of energy envelope, and then is further decoupled to derive an equivalent system. The credibility of the proposed method is validated by contrasting the consistency between the numerical and the analytical results of the equivalent system under different noise conditions. The influence of system parameters on average output power is analyzed, and the control effect of the time-delayed feedback control on system performance is compared. The output performance of the system is improved with the occurrence of stochastic resonance(SR). Therefore, the signal-to-noise ratio expression for measuring SR is derived, and the dependence of its SR behavior on different parameters is explored.

Integrated device for multiscale series vibration reduction and energy harvesting

A multi-degree-of-freedom device is proposed,which can achieve efficient vibration reduction as the main objective and energy harvesting as the secondary purpose.The device comprises a multiscale nonlinear vibration absorber(NVA)and piezoelectric components.Energy conversion and energy measurement methods are used to evaluate the device performance from multiple perspectives.Research has shown that this device can efficiently transfer transient energy from the main structure and convert a portion of transient energy into electrical energy.Main resonance and higher-order resonance are the main reasons for efficient energy transfer.The device can maintain high vibration reduction performance even when the excitation amplitude changes over a large range.Compared with the single structures with and without precompression,the multiscale NVA-piezoelectric device offers significant vibration reduction advantages.In addition,there are significant differences in the parameter settings of the two substructures for vibration reduction and energy harvesting.