Smart Materials and Devices for Energy Harvesting

Dear Colleagues,

Energy harvesting is one of the key enabling technologies for the IoT world. It allows to feed wireless sensors and low-power electronics in general, exploiting environmentally available energy.

As a matter of fact, the limiting factor for wearable electronics or wireless sensors is the finite energy stored in the batteries onboard that gives a finite duration to stand-alone performances. Of course, the solution is to change or recharge the batteries as often as necessary, but this strategy is neither practical nor economical nor green-oriented. Indeed, in the case of wireless sensors, located in strategic places in the environment, the replacement or the recharge of the batteries needs qualified technicians reaching the sensors and doing the operation, and this increases the maintenance costs. On the other hand, energy harvesting can convert the energy, right in the place where it is needed. This may also have applications for other applications, such as powering implantable medical/sensing devices for humans and animals.

Several methods allow energy harvesting from the environment: Magnetostrictives and piezoelectrics; Coupling mechanical and/or thermal variables to electro- or magnetic variables; materials and devices exploiting the Seebeck effect for direct conversion of temperature gradients into electricity; new materials for more efficient solar energy conversion; electro-active polymers (EAP) for energy harvesting, to name but a few of the many energy harvesting techniques. Indeed, the field will continue to advance as long as new multifunctional materials are discovered.

It is my pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews on the properties, modeling, and characterizations of materials and devices are all welcome.

Dr. Daniele Davino
Guest Editor

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