Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.2
3.0
Journals
Energies
Special Issues
Advances in Energy Harvesting Systems
energies-logo
Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Energies Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Advances in Energy Harvesting Systems

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "F3: Power Electronics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 928

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Deepak Mishra

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Interests: communication systems; signal processing; telecommunication networks; AI-empowered wireless sensing; green cybersecurity protocols
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. MohammadAli Mohammadi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT), Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
Interests: span diverse areas; full-duplex communications; wireless power transfer; OTFS modulation; cell-free massive MIMO
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With an ever-increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, wireless nodes, sensors and electronic circuits, there is a greater global demand for fossil energy resources and a transition towards green and sustainable energy sources. This will not only address the urgent issue of climate change but prioritise the use of renewable energy resources, having critical significance due to the amalgamation of autonomous sensor systems and communication networks, which have the potential to reshape the confluence of 6G, Industry 4.0, and the Internet of Everything (IoE). One of the resulting technologies is wearable sensing, which provides versatility, flexibility, and intellectualisation, which is possible with the advancement of artificial intelligence and semiconductor manufacturing for rich, indispensable, diverse applications, including health monitoring, human–machine interactions, and smart homes. Advanced energy harvesting technologies can address this timely demand for green energy sources to enable uninterrupted wireless communication and sensor device network operation by providing reliable and distributed power solutions at significantly reduced operational costs, carbon emissions, and environmental footprint.

Over the recent two decades, energy harvesting has become very popular due to its power supply potential. It is an ideal alternative to dangerous and expensive battery sources with a short life period, which have limited applications. Therefore, along with renewable energy technologies, to reduce the carbon footprint, there is a need to harness the vast energy available around us in the form of ambient light signals, mechanical or kinetic vibrations, thermal or pressure gradients, and radiofrequency electromagnetic waves, which can power battery-less sensors, passive RF identification (RFID), passive wireless sensors, and low-power communication devices. With the significant growth of micro-electromechanical systems technology, though commercial products are now available, there is a need for more advanced, efficient, and robust energy harvesters that can provide sustainable, portable, and reliable power.

This Special Issue of Energies on “Advances in Energy Harvesting Systems” invites novel submissions on works ranging from fundamental research to system-level integration, involving practical deployments or implementations. We welcome both regular article submissions that include original research with a rigorous methodology and in-depth discussions presenting new results, as well as review articles outlining the current state of the art while highlighting the possible future advances in energy harvesting systems. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Energy harvesting materials and transducers (e.g., photovoltaic, electromagnetic, piezoelectric, thermoelectric, triboelectric);
  • Wireless power transfer and harvesting solutions for communication systems;
  • Self-powered integrated/embedded sensor systems;
  • Reliable and robust energy harvesting system designs;
  • Energy-neutral, net-zero, low-emission or power-neutral systems;
  • Advanced energy harvesting for the Internet of Everything;
  • Optimisation algorithms and operation scheduling for energy harvesting networks;
  • Energy harvesting solutions for medical implants and wearable devices;
  • RF energy harvesting, RFID-related electronics, and rectenna arrays;
  • Near-field (inductive, capacitive, or resonant) energy transfer systems;
  • Advanced energy storage, power management, and control systems;
  • Advanced ocean wave, underwater, or underground energy harvesting;
  • Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) or carbon nanotube-based energy harvesting technologies;
  • Pyroelectric nanogenerators or triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs);
  • Advances in energy harvesting technologies for wearable devices;
  • Biochemical and bio-inspired power/energy systems;
  • Energy cooperation strategies, economics, or trading;
  • Energy harvesting-oriented evolution of the PHY layer for 6G networks;
  • MAC and routing protocols for energy harvesting systems;
  • Artificial intelligence and resource allocation for battery-free systems;
  • Modelling, simulation, and characterisation for the sustainability of energy harvesting systems;
  • Standardisation and architecture of energy harvesting wireless networks;
  • Prototypes and testbeds of advanced energy harvesting.

Dr. Deepak Mishra
Dr. MohammadAli Mohammadi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • energy harvesting technologies
  • self-powered systems
  • energy transducers
  • electric nanogenerators
  • sustainable electronics
  • battery-less devices
  • green communication networks
  • ambient energy harvesting materials
  • energy neutral operation
  • passive communications and sensing

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

22 pages, 4640 KiB  
Article
Towards Nonlinear Magnetic Rotating Pendula for Low-Frequency Weak Vibration Energy Harvesting
by Mihai Ionut Trandafir and Panagiotis Alevras
Energies 2025, 18(8), 2058; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18082058 - 17 Apr 2025
Viewed by 225
Abstract
Energy harvesting from ambient vibrations has received significant attention as an alternative renewable, clean energy source for microelectronic devices in diverse applications such as wearables and environmental monitoring. However, typical vibrations in remote environments exhibit ultra-low frequencies with variations and uncertainty leading to [...] Read more.
Energy harvesting from ambient vibrations has received significant attention as an alternative renewable, clean energy source for microelectronic devices in diverse applications such as wearables and environmental monitoring. However, typical vibrations in remote environments exhibit ultra-low frequencies with variations and uncertainty leading to operation away from resonance and severe underperformance in terms of power output. Pendulum-based energy harvesters offer a promising solution to these issues, particularly when designed for parametric resonant response to driven displacement of the pendulum pivot. Parametric excitation has been shown to trigger fast rotational motion of the pendulum VEH that is beneficial for energy generation and the necessary space utilization. Nevertheless, low-frequency ambient vibrations typically come at very weak amplitudes, a fact that establishes significant design barriers when traditional gravitational pendula are used for rotary energy harvesting. In this paper, we propose a novel concept that utilizes permanent magnet arrays to establish pendulum dynamics. Extensive investigation of the restoring torque of the proposed magnetic pendulum concept is conducted with analytical tools and FEA verification. The resulting oscillator exhibits frequency tuning that is decoupled from gravity and adjustable via the circularly arranged magnetic fields, leading to increased flexibility in the concurrently necessary amplitude tuning. Numerical integration of the nondimensional equation of motion is performed in the system’s parameter space to identify the impact on the regions triggering rotational response to parametric excitation. Finally, a theoretical case study is numerically investigated with the device space constrained within 20 cm3, showing a multi-fold improvement in the achieved power density of over 600 μW/cm3/g2/Hz over a broad range of frequencies and driving amplitudes as low as 1.1 Hz at 0.2 g. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Energy Harvesting Systems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

54 pages, 21776 KiB  
Review
Mechanical, Thermal, and Environmental Energy Harvesting Solutions in Fully Electric and Hybrid Vehicles: Innovative Approaches and Commercial Systems
by Giuseppe Rausa, Maurizio Calabrese, Ramiro Velazquez, Carolina Del-Valle-Soto, Roberto De Fazio and Paolo Visconti
Energies 2025, 18(8), 1970; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18081970 - 11 Apr 2025
Viewed by 528
Abstract
Energy harvesting in the automotive sector is a rapidly growing field aimed at improving vehicle efficiency and sustainability by recovering wasted energy. Various technologies have been developed to convert mechanical, thermal, and environmental energy into electrical power, reducing dependency on traditional energy sources. [...] Read more.
Energy harvesting in the automotive sector is a rapidly growing field aimed at improving vehicle efficiency and sustainability by recovering wasted energy. Various technologies have been developed to convert mechanical, thermal, and environmental energy into electrical power, reducing dependency on traditional energy sources. This manuscript provides a comprehensive review of energy harvesting applications/methodologies, aiming to trace the research lines and future developments. This work identifies the main categories of harvesting solutions, namely mechanical, thermal, and hybrid/environmental solar–wind systems; each section includes a detailed review of the technical and scientific state of the art and a comparative analysis with detailed tables, allowing the state of the art to be mapped for identification of the strengths of each solution, as well as the challenges and future developments needed to enhance the technological level. These improvements focus on energy conversion efficiency, material innovation, vehicle integration, energy savings, and environmental sustainability. The mechanical harvesting section focuses on energy recovery from vehicle vibrations, with emphasis on regenerative suspensions and piezoelectric-based solutions. Specifically, solutions applied to suspensions with electric generators can achieve power outputs of around 1 kW, while piezoelectric-based suspension systems can generate up to tens of watts. The thermal harvesting section, instead, explores methods for converting waste heat from an internal combustion engine (ICE) into electrical power, including thermoelectric generators (TEGs) and organic Rankine cycle systems (ORC). Notably, ICEs with TEGs can recover above 1 kW of power, while ICE-based ORC systems can generate tens of watts. On the other hand, TEGs integrated into braking systems can harvest a few watts of power. Then, hybrid solutions are discussed, focusing on integrated mechanical and thermal energy recovery systems, as well as solar and wind energy harvesting. Hybrid solutions can achieve power outputs above 1 kW, with the main contribution from TEGs (≈1 kW), compared to piezoelectric systems (hundreds of W). Lastly, a section on commercial solutions highlights how current scientific research meets the automotive sector’s needs, providing significant insights for future development. For these reasons, the research results aim to be guidelines for a better understanding of where future studies should focus to improve the technological level and efficiency of energy harvesting solutions in the automotive sector. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Energy Harvesting Systems)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop