Flexible and Wearable Devices for Health Monitoring and Energy Harvesting

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "A:Physics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 643

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Engineering and Technology Institute, Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez, 450 Avenida del Charro, Ciudad Juarez 32310, Mexico
Interests: wearable devices; energy harvesting; blood pressure measurement; ballistocardiography; seismocardiography; phonocardiography

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Guest Editor
Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica y Computación, Instituto de Ingeniería y Tecnología, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico
Interests: chalcogenides; semiconductors; advanced materials; synthesis and characterization; thin films; flexible electronic devices
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the emergence of Healthcare 4.0, the use of wearable technology has grown significantly in industrial and scientific fields. Accessing information on multiple physiological parameters in non-hospital environments and keeping multiple devices interconnected require systems with a reduced form factor and high autonomy. In line with this trend, flexible and wearable devices have evolved in the last decade. Today, embedded systems in flexible substrates can monitor health parameters and collect and store energy. There are ongoing efforts across various research areas to develop autonomous and intelligent wearable systems. To showcase the continuous progress in this field, we are pleased to announce this Special Issue, entitled “Flexible and Wearable Devices for Health Monitoring and Energy Harvesting”. Our intention is to focus on the studies and latest advancements proposed by various engineering and basic scientific researchers working on novelty wearable and flexible devices for health monitoring, energy harvesting, and energy storage. Among the possible topics for contributions to this Special Issue are the development of wearable electronic systems for healthcare and for energy harvesting, flexible materials for the detection of physiological parameters, flexible piezoelectric, triboelectric, photovoltaic, and thermoelectric harvesters, and flexible supercapacitors. Original research articles, works expanded from excellent conference articles, and systematic and state-of-the-art reviews will be accepted.

Dr. Rafael Gonzalez-Landaeta
Dr. Amanda Carrillo Castillo
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • wearables
  • devices for healthcare
  • energy harvesting
  • sensors
  • flexible electronics
  • supercapacitors
  • harvesters
  • self-powered electronics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 2930 KiB  
Article
Energy Harvesting from Ankle Flexion During Gait Using Flexible CdS and PVDF Sensors
by Kimberly Trevizo, Luis Santana, Manuel Chairez, Amanda Carrillo and Rafael Gonzalez-Landaeta
Micromachines 2025, 16(6), 698; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi16060698 - 11 Jun 2025
Viewed by 358
Abstract
In this work, energy was harvested from ankle flexion during gait. For this, two piezoelectric thin films were tested: PVDF and CdS. The PVDF film was a commercial option, and the CdS film was fabricated in our laboratory. Deposition of the CdS film [...] Read more.
In this work, energy was harvested from ankle flexion during gait. For this, two piezoelectric thin films were tested: PVDF and CdS. The PVDF film was a commercial option, and the CdS film was fabricated in our laboratory. Deposition of the CdS film is also reported in this work. Energy harvested during gait from heel strike and ankle flexion was compared. Tests were performed with 10 healthy volunteers walking on a treadmill at 1.2–1.5 km/h. The volunteers wore a sock with piezoelectric films incorporated in the heel and ankle joint (talocrural joint). Tests were performed first with the PVDF film and then with the CdS film. The CdS thin film obtained a d33 coefficient of 1.4928 nm/V, indicating high electrical energy generated from strain-stress. The talocrural joint generated the most energy: 11.359 μJ for the PVDF film and 0.854 μJ for the CdS film. Although the CdS film generated less energy than the commercial option, it was shown that harvesting energy from ankle flexion increased the energy harvested by more than 700% during gait compared to the energy harvested from heel-to-ground impact. Full article
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